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HOW     TO 


SECURE    AND    RETAIN 


ATTENTION. 


BY 


JAMES  L.  HUGHES, 


INSPECTOR    OF    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS,     TORONTO,    CANADA. 


■Attention  makes  the  genius:    all  learning,  fancy,  and 
science  depend  upon   it." 


SYRACUSE,    N.    Y. : 

C.  W.  Bardeen,  Publisher. 

1884 

Copyright,  1885,  by  C.  W.  Bardeen". 

>•*  OF  IHB^ 


Y»$ 


UB/OGt 
V 

BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR, 

Mistakes   in   Teaching. 

Price   50   Cts. 

Notice  of  Former  Editions. 

For  young  teachers  I  know  of  no  book  that  contains,  in  the  same  compass,  so 
much  matter  bearing  directly  on  their  work,  and  capable  of  being  immediately 
utilized.  They  cannot  make  a  better  investment  of  fifty  cents. — M.  A.  Newell, 
State  Sup't,  Maryland. 

I  have  never  seen  a  book  of  more  practical  value  to  teachers  At  what  rate  can 
I  procure  twenty-five  copies!-^.  B.  Snow,  City  Sup't,  Auburn,  N.  Y. 

The  "  Mistakes  in  Teaching"  has  come,  and  I  have  rrad  it  with  interest  It  is 
a  useful  book,  and  should  be  in  the  hands  ol  all  teachers.  It  points  out  clearly 
those  things  in  which  nearly  all  of  us  are  guilty.  I  hope  the  book  may  meet  a 
ready  and  extensive  sale.—  B.  M.  Reynolds,  Sup't  Schools,  Fairbault,  Minnesota. 

Mr.  Hughes  evidences  in  this  little  manual  the  good  results  of  careful  observa- 
tion and  a  thorough  study  of  the  philosophy  of  instruction,  and  shows  practical  ly 
how  to  avoid  the  mistake*  young  and  inexperienced  teachers  are  liable  to  make. 
In  this  book  he  has  condensed  an  immense  amount  of  sound  advice.  We  advise 
every  teacher  to  invest  fifty  cents  in  the  purchase  of  this  useful  vo.ume.—  New 
England  Journal  of  Education. 

It  will  help  any  teacher  to  read  this  book  and  find  out  his  own  mistakes  with  ■ 
view  toward  correcting  them.— New  York  School  Journal. 

All  young  teachers  will  find  the  book  a  help  in  their  work— one  of  the  best  to 
be  had  — Educational  Weekly. 

We  know  of  no  book  containing  more  valuable  suggestions  to  teachers — Central 
School  Journal. 

It  contains  more  hints  of  practical  value  to  teachers  than  any  book  of  its  size 
known  to  us.  —  Ohio  Educational  Monthly. 

Clearly  presented  and  distinctly  expressed,  and  cannot  fail  to  he  useful  to  any 
young  teacher— We  Schoolmaster,  London. 

Admirably  executed. — Educational  Times,  London. 

In  the  elementary  work  of  the  first  year  in  didactics,  Mistakks  in  Tkaiiiim. 
has  been  recommended.  It  is  believed  that  "the  first  step  toward  progress  in  any 
department  of  work  is  to  learn  to  avoid  the  mistakes  one  is  liable  to  make. 
Young  teachers,  before  they  begin  to  teach,  should  know  the  rocks  that  He  in 
their  course."  A  huudred  common  and  almost  universal  errors  in  school  man- 
agement, discipline,  method,  and  manner,  are  here  pointed  out  and  corri-oted. — 
Prof.  S.  N.  Fellows,  Iowa  University,  in  article  on  Normal  Institutes,  Iowa 
Normal  Monthly. 

In  accordance  with  the  nbovt  recommendat'on,  more  than  EIGHTKEN 
THOUSAND  copies  have  been  ordered  for  the  Iowa  County  Institute*. 


PREFACE 


"There  is  and  there  can  be  no  teaching, 
where  the  attention  of  the  scholar  is  not 
secured.  The  teacher  who  fails  to  get  the 
attention  of  his  scholars,  fails  totally."  So 
writes  a  thoughtful  educator,  and  every 
observant  teacher  knows  that  the  state- 
ments are  correct.  The  most  important 
work  of  a  teacher  both  in  regard  to  the 
learning  of  school  lessons  and  the  forma- 
tion of  proper  mental  habits  by  his  pupils, 
is  the  development  of  the  power  to  give 
concentrated  and  sustained  attention  to  a 
subject. 

While  fully  agreeing  with  the  opinion 
that  natural  aptitude  has  much  to  do 
in  deciding  the  measure  of  a  teacher's 
success,  the  author  knows  that  the  power 
of  securing  and  retaining  attention  can  be 
acquired  and  developed.  This  book  has 
been  written  with  a  sincere  desire  to  aid 
in  the  accomplishment  of  this  important 
object. 
Toronto,  February  2oth,  1880. 


CONTENTS 


Chap.  Page. 

I.    Kinds  of  Attention  5 

II.  Characteristics  of  Positive  Attention  8 

III.  Characteristics  of  the  Teacher  in 

securing  and  retaining  Attention  24 

IV.  Conditions  of  Attention         -         -  -     30 

V.   How  to  control  a  class  36 

VI.   Method  of  preserving  and  stimulating 

the  pupils'  desire  for  knowledge  45 

VII.   How  to  gratify  and  develop  the  natir- 

ral  desire  for  knowledge         -         -  57 

VIII.  The  cultivation  of  the  Senses  -     72 

IX.   General  Suggestions  86 


fTJlTIVBRSITYj 

HOW  TO  SECURE 
AND  RETAIN  ATTENTION. 


CHAPTER  I. 


KINDS    OF    ATTENTION. 


Attention  may  be  Negative  or  Positive, 
Negative  Attention.  A  pupil  may  look 
without  seeing,  listen  without  being  con- 
scious of  hearing,  and  hear  without  com- 
prehending. He  may  sit  and  dream.  The 
mind  has  inner  as  well  as  outer  gates.  The 
outer  gates  admit  merely  to  the  courtyard 
of  the  mind.  A  great  many  pupils  keep 
the  inner  doors  closed  to  much  of  the 
teaching  done  by  their  teachers.  We  may 
perceive  without  receiving  distinct  con- 
ceptions.    Thousands  look  at  a  store  win- 


t)  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

dow  in  passing  it  without  being  able  to 
name  or  even  give  the  color  of  a  single 
article  in  it. 

We  may  hear  also  without  taking  in  the 
thoughts  of  the  person  speaking.  How 
often  men  sit  in  church  and  hear  a  preach- 
er's voice  without  noting  his  words  !  The 
sounds  he  makes  gets  through  the  gates  of 
the  castle  wall,  but  the  castle  itself  is  shut 
and  filled  with  other  tenants.  The  tele- 
phonic key  has  not  been  adjusted,  and 
direct  communication  has  not  been  estab- 
lished. We  hear  various  sounds — the  bell 
of  the  factory  or  the  school,  the  whistle  of 
the  steam  engine,  the  song  of  the  birds, 
&c. — without  always  being  conciously  im- 
pressed by  them.  Sometimes  they  influ- 
ence or  arrest  our  lines  of  thought,  but 
more  frequently,  unless  they  convey  a  spe- 
cial message  to  us,  we  allow  them  to  pass 
unheeded.  Negative  attention  consists 
in  the  outward  marks  of  attention  merely. 
It  is  a  form  without  reality;  a  seed  without 
an  active  germ,  from  which  nothing  of  life 
and  beauty  can  ever  spring. 


RETAIN  ATTENTION.  7 

Positive  Attention.  A  pupil  who  gives 
positive  or  active  attention,  is  attentive  not 
merely  with  his  body  but  with  his  mind. 
He  has  the  inner  as  well  as  the  outer  gates 
of  his  mind  open.  His  mind  must  be  will- 
ing to  receive  the  thoughts  his  teacher  has 
to  communicate,  and  it  must  not  be  preoc- 
cupied, ox  actively  engaged  with  other  thoughts. 
He  must  for  a  time  forget  his  personality, 
and  turn  from  thoughts  of  his  own  plays 
and  work  and  all  that  directly  interests 
him  outside  of  the  lesson.  He  must  get 
out  of  his  own  current  of  thought  and  into 
that  of  his  teacher. 

Positive  attention  stands  opposed  to  that 
rambling  state  of  mind  in  which  the 
thoughts  move  continually  from  one  topic 
to  another  without  dwelling  upon  any,  and 
also  to  that  apathetic  and  listless  condition 
of  the  mind  in  which  it  is  not  conscious  of 
thought;  or  in  which  ideas,  if  they  exist, 
leave  no  trace  in  the  memory.  It  is  the 
kind  of  attention  which  a  teacher  must 
have  from  his  pupils  if  he  wishes  to  im- 
press them.  If  he  secures  only  negative, 
the  minds  of  his  scholars  may  be  a  thous- 
and miles  away,  whilst  their  bodies  may 
occupy  positions  of  reverent  attention. 


CHAPTER  II. 


CHARACTERISTICS     OF    POSITIVE    ATTENTION 


I.  Positive  Attention  may  be  either 
instinctive  or  controlled. 

Instinctive  attention.  Attention  may 
be  won  or  directed,  attracted  or  guided. 
Pupils  may  give  attention  to  a  subject  be- 
cause they  are  interested  in  it,  or  because 
they  are  convinced  that  they  will  receive 
benefit  from  so  attending.  We  attend  to 
many  things  without  effort,  and  even  in 
opposition  to  our  wishes.  Those  things 
which  give  us  either  pleasure  or  pain  de- 
mand and  receive  our  attention  in  propor- 
tion to  the  intensity  of  the  interest  they 
have  for  us.  The  little  child  gives  atten- 
tion because  it  is  a  delight  to  do  so.  It 
attends  to  one  thing  until  another  becomes 
more  attractive.  "  Observation,  attention, 
concentration,  last  so  long  as  enjoyment 


POSITIVE     ATTENTION.  9 

lasts  and  no  longer."  The  mind  of  the  lit- 
tle one  flies  like  the  bee  from  flower  to 
flower,  and  it  gets  something  every  time  it 
alights.  The  child  does  not  pass  from  ob- 
ject to  object  for  the  sake  of  information 
however,  but  on  account  of  the  beauty  and 
attractiveness  of  the  things  themselves. 
Nevertheless  it  gathers  the  knowledge 
more  easily  and  more  rapidly  than  it  does 
afterwards,  even  when  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge  is  its  direct  object.  The  child 
learns  more  between  the  ages  of  two  and  a 
half  and  four  years  than  it  does  during  any 
five  years  afterwards.  He  has  learned  a 
language,  and  speaks  it  correctly  both  as 
regards  grammar  and  pronunciation,  if  he 
has  listened  to  good  speaking.  He  is  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  the  worlds  of  na- 
ture and  of  art  so  far  he  has  come  in  con- 
tact with  them.  He  knows  the  relations 
of  things  to  each  other  and  to  himself.  He 
cannot  explain,  but  he  puts  in  practice  the 
principles  of  philosophy.  He  is  even  capa- 
ble to  a  far  greater  extent  than  he  usually 
gets  credit  for,  of  estimating  and  appreciat- 
ing the  motives  as  well  as  the  actions  of 
the  adults  by  whom  he  is  surrounded. 


lO  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

He  could  not  have  learned  thus  rapidly, 
if  it  had  not  been  for  the  power  of  instinc- 
tive attention,  the  intensity  of  which  in  a 
child  is  so  great  as  to  require  but  a  short 
time  to  gather  ideas.  Teachers  will  do 
well  to  note  carefully,  not  only  the  marvel- 
lous rapidity  with  which  knowledge  is  ac- 
quired in  early  years,  but  the  distinctness 
and  permanency  of  ideas  received  in  the 
days  of  childhood.  Many  parents  and 
teachers  complain  of  the  flightiness  of 
children,  and  their  lack  of  continuity  in 
giving  fixed  attention  to  a  subject.  If 
these  wise  grumblers  would  only  reflect, 
they  would  find  that  this  tendency  to  pay 
attention  to  whatever  gives  the  highest 
degree  of  joy  or  pain  is  a  characteristic  of 
childhood  impressed  by  our  Creator.  The 
results  already  noted  clearly  prove  that  it 
is  not  necessary  to  give  long  continued  so 
much  as  oft  repeated  attention  to  a  subject 
in  order  to  become  acquainted  with  it* 
The  clearness  and  permanency  of  ideas 
depends  on  the  interest  and  intensity  of 
attention  rather  than  its  continuance.  If 
the  best  teachers  could  only  succeed  in 
making  children  learn  one  half  as  rapidly 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  1  1 

during  school  days  as  they  did  in  their 
homes  or  in  the  fields  and  woods  before 
school  life  began,  they  would  have  great 
reason  to  congratulate  themselves. 

Why  do  children  not  continue  to  mani- 
fest the  same  degree  of  interested  or  in- 
stinctive attention  through  life,  that  they 
showed  in  early  years  ?  Is  the  change  due 
to  an  altered  mental  nature,  or  is  it  caused 
by  improper  methods  of  teaching  ?  Partly 
to  both,  but  mainly  to  the  latter.  Profes- 
sor Payne  says,  "It  is  certain,  that  there 
are  processes  of  so-called  education  in 
vogue  amongst  us  which,  by  the  assiduous 
cultivation  of  mere  rote  memory,  convert 
teaching  into  a  mechanical  grind  of  words, 
and  thus  defeat  the  very  aim  of  true  edu- 
cation, which  is  to  store  the  mind  with 
ideas,  and  only  to  recognize  words  as  far 
as  they  minister  to  this  end.  The  lament- 
able results  of  such  methods  which  make 
much  provision  for  feeding  and  none  for 
digestion  is  to  ruin  irreparably  the  appetite 
for  knowledge — the  knowledge  which  con- 
sists in  ideas  not  words.  Hence  it  is  that 
we  see  children,  who  in  their  earliest  years 


12  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

were  distinguished  for  mental  ability 
transformed  into  dunces  at  school — a  con- 
sequence obviously  due  to  what  is  mis- 
called their  education;  for  the  number  of 
children  really  stupid  by  nature  is  proba- 
bly not  at  all  greater  than  that  of  those 
born  blind,  or  deaf  and  dumb." 

There  is  one  fundamental  difference  be- 
tween the  natural  method  and  the  school 
method  of  teaching,  which  is  worthy  of 
careful  thought  by  teachers.  Before  school 
the  learning  has  not  been  the  direct  object 
aimed  at.  It  has  been  incidental.  The  child 
was  attracted  by  something  and  he  watched 
it,  or  handled  it,  or  used  it,  in  order  to  add 
to  his  happiness.  He  was  not  attending  to 
lessons  merely,  but  he  learned  them  thor- 
oughly, as  the  result  of  his  doing.  School 
work  cannot  all  be  done  on  this  principle, 
but  it  should  be  done  so  as  far  as  possible. 
vThere  will  be  enough  "drudgery"  under 
the  most  favorable  circumstances  to  serve 
for  mental  discipldA^' 

Frcebel  in  his  Kindergarten  system  has 
sought  to  utilize  the  instinctive  attention  of 
children  to  the  fullest  extent.     He  recog- 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  .        13 

nizes  the  immense  rapidity  and  value  of 
tl?e  development  of  even  the  infant  mind, 
and  sets  to  work  with  the  idea  of  systema- 
tizing the  child's  work  without^any  sense 
curtailing  his  enjoyment.  He  consequent- 
ly brings  him  in  contact  with  a  carefully 
graded  series  of  objects  and  occupations 
which  are  most  attractive  to  him,  and  at 
the  same  time  are  admirably  suited  to  the 
growth  of  his  observant  and  reflective 
powers.  He  also  allows  him  to  have  ample 
opportunity  for  unrestrained  but  directed 
play.  There  are  some  who,  having  merely 
glanced  theoretically  or  practically  at  the 
surface  of  Kindergarten  work,  wisely  ex- 
press the  opinion  that  it  is  "only  play." 
It  is  scarcely  honest  for  a  man  to  give 
oracular  decisions  with  such  a  small 
amount  of  investigation.  There  would  not 
be  much  gold  in  the  Kindergarten  system, 
if  a  casual  and  unprofessional  observer 
could  find  it  all  in  a  few  minutes.  The 
truth  is  that  the  Kindergarten  system,  by 
extending  the  period  of  instinctive,  involun- 
tary attention,  has  done  a  great  deal  towards 
the  bridging  over  of  the  great  gulf  between 


14       *  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

the  home  and  the  school.  What  is  needed 
in  addition  is  the  strengthening  and  com- 
pletion of  the  bridge  at  its  school  end.  In 
some  subjects  the  Kindergarten  system 
should  be  carried  out  even  in  universities. 

Controlled  Attention.  Bain  says,  "The 
beginnings  of  knowledge  are  in  activity  or 
in  pleasure,  but  the  culminating  point  is  in 
the  power  of  attending  to  things  in  them- 
selves  indifferent"  It  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  while  instinctive  or  attracted attention  is 
the  most  effective  kind  in  gaining  knowl- 
edge, controlled  or  directed  attention  is  of 
"^more  importance  as  a  mental  discipline. 
All  studies  cannot  be  made  so  attractive 
that  students  will  prosecute  them  with 
ardor  on  account  of  the  delight  they  afford. 
Different  minds  are  fond  of  studying  dif- 
ferent subjects.  Study  may  be  a  species  of 
mental  dissipation.  As  children  grow 
older,  therefore,  they  should  be  introduced 
gradually  to  those  subjects  which  are  less 
attractive.  The  mistake  that  is  too  often 
made  in  both  public  and  Sunday  schools 
is  to  expect  young  children  to  attend  to 


RETAIN    ATTENTION. 


*r 


the  teaching  of  subjects  to  which  theyare 
indifferent.  To  do  this  requires  the  exer- 
cise of  a  will  power  which  they  do  not 
possess.  Dr.  Carpenter  expresses  himself 
very  clearly  on  this  point.  He  says,. 
"  Those  strong-minded  teachers  who  object 
to  these  modes  of  'making  things  pleasant' 
as  an  unworthy  and  undesirable  '  weak- 
ness'  are  ignorant  that  in  the  stage  of  the 
child-mind,  the  witty  that  is  the  power  of 
self  control,  is  weak,  and  that  the  primary 
object  of  education  is  to  encourage  and 
strengthen,  not  to  repress  that  power  *  * 
To  punish  a  child  for  the  want  of  obedi- 
ence which  it  has  not  the  power  to  render, 
is  to  inflict  an  injury  which  may  almost 
be  said  to  be  irreparable." 

It  will  not  do  on  the  other  hand  to  allow 
the  child  to  grow  up  with  the  idea  that 
none  of  the  problems  of  life  arenninviting  vC 
in  themselves.  The  teacher  should  fit  his 
pupils  for  grappling  with  and  mastering 
difficulties,  even  with  what  is  distasteful. 
One  of  the  most  important  of  all  the  men- 
tal powers  is  the  will;  and  it  must  be 
called  into  action  in  fixing  the  attention 


10  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

to  these  subjects  that  cannot  be  made 
attractive.  "  God  has  given  us  the  power 
or  capacity  to  direct  the  mind  to  any  given 
object — that  is,  of  directing,  controlling, 
and  in  any  way  using  the  several  mental 
faculties  of  which  we  are  possessed:  just 
as  we.have  a  like  power  over  the  various 
members  of  the  body."  Let  this  power  be 
developed,  but  let  the  teacher  carefully 
avoid  depending  upon  compulsory  atten- 
tion as  a  snbstitute  for  good  teaching." 

2^  Positive  attention  is  a  "  result  of 
good  teaching  rather  than  a  condition 
on  which  the  power  to  teach  well  de- 
pends." Those  effeminate  or  fossilized 
teachers  who  weakly  say  "  Oh,  dear  !  if 
my  pupils  would  only  give  me  their  atten- 
tion, I  could  teach  them  so  well,"  should 
honestly  say,  "  If  I  taught  better,  my  class 
would  attend  to  my  teaching." 

3.  Positive  attention  cannot  be  se- 
cured by  demanding  it,  or  by  coaxing, 
scolding,  commanding,  threatening,  or 
reasoning.  The  maxim,  u  One  man  may 
lead  a  horse  to  the  water,  but  ten  men  can- 


RETAIN     ATTENTION.  17 

not  make  him  drink,"  applies  with  great 
force  here.  Negative  attention  may  be  se- 
cured by  compulsion,  positive  cannot  be 
forced. ^Nz  can  force  order,  and  submis- 
sion, but  not  active  attention.  It  must  be 
willingly  givem)  He  who  demands  sorae- 
thing  entirely  beyond  the  limits  of  his  con- 
trol, demonstrates  his  own  weakness  and 
presumption.  Coaxing,  scolding,  com- 
manding and  threatening  very  soon  lose 
their  influence,  and,  if  indulged  in  after 
that  point  has  been  reached,  they  secure 
for  the  teachers  who  use  them  the  disre- 
spect of  their  pupils.  Even  reasoning 
with  pupils  cannot  permanently  secure 
attention.  It  will  certainly  be  of  service 
for  the  teacher  to  show  his  pupils  clearly 
the  necessity  for  attention,  and  the  benefits 
arising  from  it.  This  will  produce  in  them 
a  mental  attitude  favorable  to  attention, 
and  will  thereby  make  it  easier  for  them  to 
do  their  part;  but  it  does  not  relieve  the 
teacher  of  his  responsibility  for  sustaining 
the  interest  in  the  lesson. 

4.  Positive  attention  should  be  undi- 
vided.    Some  children  have  difficulty  in 


l8  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

concentrating  their  attention.  Their  minds 
do  not  merely  pass  rapidly  from  one  thing 
to  another;  two  or  three  subjects  of  an  en- 
tirely different  nature  will  occupy  them  at 
the  same  time.  It  is  possible  for  a  man  to 
give  his  attention  to  two  things  at  once, 
but  the  attention  given  to  one  of  them  is 
taken  from  the  other.  It  is  one  ot  the 
highest  duties  which  a  teacher  owes  to  his 
pupils  to  train  them  to  be  able  to  fix  their 
undivided  attention  on  one  subject.  The 
extent  to  which  a  man  can  rivet  his  atten- 
tion, and  control  the  working  of  his  own 
mind,  decides  the  standard  of  his  intel- 
lectual power.  The  force  of  a  stream  be- 
comes resistless  as  its  channel  becomes 
restricted.  The  genial  rays  of  the  sun 
when  brought  to  a  focus  have  intense 
burning  power.  The  mind  which  admits 
various  subjects  at  the  same  time,  and  as  a 
result  becomes  confused  and  full  of  but 
instinct  ideas,  might,  if  all  its  energies 
were  directed  to  the  investigation  of  only 
one  subject,  mount  with  majestic  tread 
from  height  to  height  in  original  investi- 
gation. 


RETAIN     ATTENTION.  19 

It  is  a  difficult  matter,  however,  even  for 
adults  to  concentrate  their  attention  on 
the  one  subject  in  hand.  How  often  the 
thoughts  which  we  hear  expressed,  or 
which  we  read,  make  no  deeper  impres- 
sions on  our  minds  than  the  "  shadows  of 
the  passing  clouds  do  upon  a  landscape.'' 
A  teacher  should  pe  patient  when  he  finds 
some  active  brained  boy  or  girl  is  in 
"  wonderland,"  when  he  is  supposed  to  be 
revelling  in  the  delights  of  complex  frac- 
tions. It  is  often  injurious  to  a  very  young 
child  to  startle  it  from  its  reveries.  Men- 
tal links  may  thus  be  broken  which  will 
never  be  re-united.  This  remark  should, 
however,  be  noted  by  parents  and  teachers 
of  individuals,  rather  than  by  teachers  of 
classes.. 

5.  Positive  attention  should  be  in- 
tense. The  permanency  of  impressions 
made  upon  the  mind  by  the  teacher  or  by 
circumstances  depends  upon  the  intensity 
of  the  attention  given.  Some  single  events 
have  burned  their  impress  upon  the  tablets 
of  our  memory,  so  that  they  can  never  be 
forgotten.     It  matters  not  whether  the  cir- 


20  -HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

cumstances  have  caused  intense  joy  or 
pain,  if  the  sensations  they  caused  have 
been  acute,  their  remembrance  remains 
vivid.  There  are  few  who  would  not  for- 
get some  things,  if  they  could.  Why  is  it 
that  we  cannot  torget  some  things  ?  Sim- 
ply because  they  interested  us  so  much. 
We  walk  through  the  streets  of  a  city  and 
we  look  into  the  faces  of  thousands  of 
strangers.  Why  is  it  that  of  all  these  per- 
haps but  one  is  photographed  indelibly  in 
our  remembrance  ?  Because  it  reminded 
us  of  some  other  person  closely  connected 
with  our  lives  by  the  links  of  love  or  hate, 
or  because  for  some  reason  it  strongly 
attracted  or  repelled  us.  We  look  at  and 
admire  the  beautiful  flowers  which  bloom 
around  our  pathway  as  we  ramble  in  the 
woods  or  gardens  in  the  early  summer 
time.  We  perchance  may  gather  boquets 
of  those  we  deem  most  exquisitely  beauti- 
ful. A  month  afterwards  we  may  not 
remember  the  varieties  we  collected  or  the 
precise  localities  in  the  woods  or  gardens 
from  which  we  plucked  them.  Let  a  com- 
panion who  has  roused  in  us  a  strong  deep 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  2  1 

feeling  either  of  love  or  respect,  pick  and 
present  one  blossom  to  us,  and  we  remem- 
ber exactly  its  hues  and  shape,  as  well  as 
the  very  spot  on  which  the  presentation 
took  place.  Numerous  other  illustrations 
might  be  given,  were  they  necessary  to 
show  that  when  the  attention  is  interne,  the 
impressions  made  are  distinct  and  lasting. 
Teachers  should  therefore  strive  to  se- 
cure a  large  degree  of  intensity  of  atten- 
tion on  the  part  of  their  pupils.  This  may 
not  be  possible  in  every  part  of  every  les- 
son, but  there  should  at  least  be  some  partf  > 
of  every  lesson  which  will  arrest  the  invol-  i>^ 
untary  attention  of  every  pupil.  If  only 
one  flower  be  clearly  pictured  in  the  mem- 
ory, that  one  serves  to  recall  the  ramble 
and  its  pleasures.  If  some  salient  or  cul- 
minating point  in  a  lesson  be  illustrated, 
or  presented  in  an  impressive  or  even 
startling  manner  so  as  to  condense  the 
attention  on  it,  it  will  form  a  magnet 
around  which  the  other  facts  taught  will 
group  themselves.  Bain  says,  "  Intensity 
of  sensation  whether  pleasing  or  not  is  a 
power."     Of  course  it  would  be  unwise  to 


2  2  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

try  to  keep  the  attention  constantly 
strained  to  too  great  an  extent.  The 
effects  of  such  a  course  both  physically 
and  mentally  would  be  disastrous. 

6.  Positive  attention  should  be  fixed. 

Startling  a  class  to  make  them  attend  is 
not  a  wise  course.  Some  teachers  try  an- 
explosive  method  of  securing  attention. 
They  first  helplessly  allow  the  class  to 
drift  into  a  state  of  disorder  and  confu- 
sion, and  then  suddenly  comes  a  thunder- 
clap; the  desk  is  struck  violently  with  a 
ruler,  or  the  floor  is  stamped  upon  heav- 
ily. Attention  may  be  gained  in  such  a 
way,  but  only  of  a  temporary  kind.  The 
noise  of  the  pupils  yields  for  a  time,  but 
very  soon  it  reasserts  itself.  Attention  to 
be  valuable  must  be  fixed.  Teachers 
should,  of  course,  never  forget  that  giving 
fixed,  active  attention  is  an  exhaustive  exer- 
cise, and  that  relaxation  in  some  form — 
music,  free  gymnastics,  or  both  combined 
— should  be  given  to  pupils  at  frequent 
intervals. 

The  attention  which  the  teacher  should 
try  to  secure  should  therefore  be: 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  2J 

1.  Active. 

2.  Instinctive  or  Controlled ;  if  pos- 

sible the  former.     It  should  be  won 
rather  than  forced. 

3.  Willingly  given. 

4.  Undivided. 

5.  Intense. 

6.  Fixed. 


CHAPTER    III. 


y 


CHARACTERISTICS    OF    THE    TEACHER    ESSEN- 
TIAL   IN    SECURING    AND    RETAIN- 
ING    ATTENTION. 


1.  Cheerfulness.  Unless  the  teacher 
be  cheerful  and  kind  in  manner  he  cannot 
secure  the  sympathy  of  his  pupils  thor- 
oughly, and  without  it  he  cannot  obtain 
proper  attention.  The  pupils  insensibly 
associate  the  teacher  with  the  subjects 
taught,  and  unless  attracted  by  the  former 
they  are  not  likely  to  be  interested  in  the 
latter. 

2.  Earnestness.  The  teacher's  manner 
will  influence  his  pupils  for  good»more 
than  his  precepts  or  advice  They  may 
laugh  at  his  logic,  they  cannot  resist  his 
personal  power.  If  a  man  is  not  in  earn- 
est his  pupils  will  not  be  zealous.    He  jus- 


ENTHUSIASM.  2$ 

tifies  inattention,  if  he  does  not  speak  and 
act  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  that  he  re- 
gards his  subjects  to  be  of  great  import- 
ance. 

3.  Enthusiasm.  Enthusiasm  is  well 
directed  energy:  not  mere  excitement  or 
assumed  animation.  Enthusiasm  must 
spring  from  a  genuine  fervent  desire  for 
the  accomplishment  of  a  well  understood 
purpose.  Enthusiasm  in  teaching  must 
grow  from  a  love  for  the  work,  a  thorough 
acquaintance  with  the  subjects  to  be 
taught,  and  a  deep  conviction  of  the  great 
value  of  education  in  forming  the  charac- 
ters and  securing  the  success  of  his  pupils. 
Some  one  says,  "  Enthusiastic  men  are 
narrow."  Perhaps  they  are  to  a  certain 
extent,  but  narrowing  a  man's  energies  to 
his  legitimate  work  is  the  most  essential 
foundation  for  his  success.  The  teacher 
should  widen  his  mental  range,  and  conce?i- 
trate  his  energies  and  his  emotional  nature. 
"  Enthusiasm  is  not  a  reckless  zeal  with- 
out knowledge  ;  neither  is  it  that  overplus 
of  feeling  oc  action  that  <wrdoes  the  work, 
but  undoes  the  worker.     But   it  does  con- 


26  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

sist  in  the  combination  of  a  high  apprecia- 
tion of  the  importance  of  your  work,  and 
a  hearty  zeal  in  the  accomplishment  of 
that  work.  Fanaticism  is  zeal  without 
knowledge;  indifference  is  no  zeal  what- 
ever; enthusiasm  is  a  zeal  tempered  by 
prudence,  modified  by  knowledge.  Indif- 
ference chills;  enthusiasm  warms  and 
quickens.  A  teacher  without  enthusiasm 
has  no  right  to  be  a  teacher.  He  cannot 
be  one  in  the  truest  and  broadest  sense 
without  it." 

4.  Quietness.  Some  teachers  act  as 
though  noise  and  bustle  were  equivalent 
to  energy  and  enthusiasm.  The  mighty 
Corliss  Engine  in  Machinery  Hall  at  the 
Centennial  Exhibition  at  Philadelphia  in 
1876,  made  less  noise  than  almost  any  of 
the  hundreds  of  machines  which  it  set  in 
motion.  So  in  the  schoolroom,  the  teacher 
should  be  the  great  motive  power,  mighty 
without  being  noisy,  which  sets  the  human 
machines  around  him  to  work  for  themselves. 
"  Noise  and  emptiness  often  travel  togeth- 
er." Noisy  teachers  make  noisy  pupils. 
Some  teachers  are  so  noisy  and  demonstra- 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  27 

live  that  they  attract  attention  to  them- 
selves and  not  to  the  subjects  they  are 
teaching.  If  teachers  speak  in  a  loud 
tone,  and  in  a  high  key  their  pupils  can- 
not listen  to  them  long.  Inattention  and 
consequent  disorder  always  mark  the 
classes  taught  by  piping  teachers. 

5.  Decision.  The  teacher's  every  act, 
look  and  tone  should  clearly  indicate  deci- 
sion. He  must  wear  the  dignity  of  his 
superior  position  as  though  it  fitted  him 
well.  He  must  understand  himself  and 
his  subjects.  There  must  be  no  assump- 
tion in  his  bearing.  There  is  a  magnetic 
force  connected  with  a  man  who  has  defi- 
niteness  of  aim  and  deliberation  in  action. 
The  will  power  of  such  a  man  is  irresisti- 
ble in  its  influence  over  those  with  whom 
he  comes  in  contact.  This  is  true  even 
when  they  are  of  his  own  age;  it  is  true  to 
a  greater  extent  when  they  are  his  juniors. 

6.  Power  to  maintain  interest.    The 

teacher  must  not  be  too  wordy.  Fluency 
often  drowns  thought.  Pupils  will  not 
exercise  their  minds,  if  the  teacher  does. 


28  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

their  thinking  for  them.  The  best  way  to 
make  a  subject  interesting  and  attractive 
is  to  set  the  pupils  to  work  at  making  dis- 
coveries concerning  it.  The  wondrous 
caves  and  marvellous  treasures  of  knowl-  ! 
edge  may  be  opened  and  pointed  out  by 
the  teacher,  but  they  should  be  investi- 
gated by  the  pupils  themselves.  In  some 
way,  however,  the  interest  must  be  kept 
up,  and  as  far  as  possible  the  subjects 
taught  should  be  made  attractive  in  them- 
selves, without  reference  to  the  benefits 
they  confer.  As  has  been  explained  al- 
ready, the  permanency  of  impressions  de- 
pends upon  the  intensity  of  the  attention 
given;  it  is  equally  true  that  intensity  of 
attention  depends  upon  the  interest  taken 
in  the  subject  itself. 

7.  The  possession  of  "  will  power." 

Control  is  a  necessary  element  in  secur- 
ing attention.  The  most  perfect  control 
can  secure  only  negative  attention,  but  this 
is  an  essential  condition  of  positive  atten- 
tion. The  teacher  should  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  convincing  his  class  that  some 
one  person  must  be  the  controlling  power 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  29 

in  the  school,  and  that  his  age,  experience 
and  developed  force  of  character  eminently 
fit  him  for  the  position  of  unchallenged 
leader.  The  teacher  who,  when  occasion 
demands  it,  has  not  the  power  to  secure 
complete  submission  from  his  pupils  by 
an  arbitrary  use  of  "  will  power  "  is  unfit 
for  his  position. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


CONDITIONS    OF    ATTENTION. 


1.  Physical  requisites.  The  room  must 
be  well  lighted,  Children  cannot  be  bright 
and  happy  in  a  room  that  is  insufficiently 
or  badly  lighted.  The  light  should  never 
come  from  the  front  or  the  right  of  pupils. 
It  is  best  when  admitted  only  from  the  left, 
but  a  left  and  rear  light  is  admissible.  All 
windows  should  reach  well  up  towards  the 
ceiling,  and  they  should  not  extend  too 
low  down.  It  is  better  when  all  the  light 
is  admitted  above  the  level  of  the  eye. 

2.  The  room  must  be  properly  ventilated.  Un- 
less it  is,  the  health  of  the  children  is  in- 
juriously affected,  and  their  spirits  are  de- 
pressed. 

3.  The  temperature  must  be  regulated.  Pu- 
pils cannot  be  quiet  and   studious  when 


PHYSICAL    REQUISITES.  3I 

their  toes  and  fingers  are  cold.  They  be- 
come tired  and  indolent  if  the  tempera- 
ture rises  too  high.  Cold  feet  and  hot 
heads  at  the  same  time  are  bad  for  the 
health  in  many  respects.  The  normal 
temperature  is  about  65  degrees. 

4.  The  pupils  must  be  seated  comfortably. 
The  two  essentials  for  comfort  are — 

,1.  The  seats  must  not  be  too  high. 

2.  The  back  should  fit  the  pupil's  spinal 
curvature. 

A  child's  feet  should  rest  on  the  floor, 
so  that  no  part  of  the  weight  of  the  leg  is 
borne  by  the  thigh  bone.  Many  seats  have 
backs  too  high,  others  are  too  low,  and 
sometimes  the  seats  in  galleries  have  no 
backs  at  all.  Either  arrangement  is  a 
cause  of  pain  to  the  children  who  sit  on 
such  seats. 

5 .  Children  should  be  allowed  to  change  their 
posture  frequently.  The  body  tires  sooner 
than  the  mind.  Even  if  supplied  with 
comfortable  seats,  remaining  in  one  posi- 
tion too  long  causes  injury  to  the  body, 
and  compels  the  withdrawal   of  the  mind 


32  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

from  the  lesson,  to  note  the  necessities  of 
physical  comfort. 

If  the  teacher  notices  his  pupils  unusu- 
ally restless  and  inattentive,  he  should 
allow  them  to  spend  say  half  a  minute  in 
some  simple  physical  exercises.  Even 
standing  up  and  sitting  down  will  aid  in 
removing  listlessness,  and  the  disorder 
resulting  from  nervous  restlessness.  Exer- 
cises should  always,  if  possible,  be  per- 
formed in  time  with  music.  They  then 
form  the  most  powerful  and,  what  is  of 
more  importance  the  most  natural  disci- 
plinary agent  a  teacher  can  employ. 

2.  Good  classification.  Proper  classi- 
fication promotes  attention  in  two  ways. 
Unless  the  pupils  in  a  class  are  graded 
according  to  their  attainments,  the  sub- 
jects and  methods  adapted  to  the  advance- 
ment and  capabilities  of  one  portion  will 
be  quite  unsuited  to  the  other.  It  is  com- 
paratively useless  to  try  to  steer  a  middle 
course.  The  more  advanced  will  not  give 
good  attention  because  they  think  they  are 
acquainted  with  the  subject  already,  the 
more  backward  will  usually   fail  to  give 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  33 

close  attention  from  sheer  inability  to 
keep  up  and  clearly  comprehend  the 
teaching.  Judicious  grading  also  enables 
the  teacher  to  secure  a  proper  alternation 
of  lessons  on  the  programme  of  study,  an£ 
to  carry  out  the  time  table  without  waste 
of  time. 

3.  GrOOd  Order.  Order  is  an  essential 
prelimary  step  in  securing  and  retaining 
attention.  Attention  cannot  be  concen- 
trated and  intense,  except  under  favor- 
ble  circumstances.  Disorder,  unnecessary 
movement,  bustle,  confusion,  chattering, 
and  even  whispering,  distract  the  atten- 
tion. Those  who  talk  must  themselves  be 
inattentive,  and  they  prevent  attention  on 
the  part  of  those  to  whom  they  speak.  A 
recent  American  writer  says  :  "  Silence  is 
the  basis  for  the  culture  of  internality  or 
reflection — the  soil  in  which  thought 
grows.  It  allows  the  repose  of  the  senses 
and  the  awakening  of  insight  and  reflec- 
tion. In  our  schools  this  is  carried  further 
than  merely  negative  silence  and  the  pupil 
is  taught  the  difficult  but  essential  habit  of 
absorption   in  his  proper  task  even  when 


34  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

a  lively  recitation  is  going  on  with  another 
class.  He  must  acquire  the  strength  of 
mind  (of  internality)  which  will  enable 
him  to  pursue  without  distraction  his 
train  of  thought  and  study,  under  any  ex- 
ternal conditions.  Out  of  this  discipline 
grow  attention,  memory,  thought — the 
three  factors  of  theoretic  culture." 

The  teacher  must  carefully  guard  against 
the  mistake  ot  supposing  that  order  and 
attention  are  equivalent.  A  class  may  be 
very  orderly,  and  at  the  same  time  in  a 
state  of  mental  inactivity.  Order  and  at- 
tention are  quite  distinct,  but  closely  re- 
lated to  each  other.  Order  is  indispensa- 
ble in  securing  attention;  attention  is  abso- 
lutely requisite  in  maintaining  order. 

4:.  Full  Control.  While  order  should 
be  maintained  by  giving  the  pupils  plenty 
of  work  to  engage  their  attention,  it  fre- 
quently becomes  necessary  to  secure  it  by 
direct  controlling  power.  To  influence 
his  pupils  properly  a  teacher  must  first 
learn  to  control  them.  In  teaching  them- 
to  apply  themselves  to  the  study  of  sub- 
jects   "indifferent,"   or   uninteresting;  in 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  35 

forming  habits  of  mental  attention  for 
benefit  rather  than  pleasure;  in  developing 
the  will  power  of  pupils;  and  the  teach- 
er's mind  must  assume  not  only  a  guiding 
but  a  governing  function.  It  is  of  course 
true  that  the  minds  of  the  pupils  may  in- 
fluence that  of  the  teacher,  but  the  extent 
to  which  this  is  true  depends  almost  en- 
tirely on  the  teacher  himself.  Four  things 
settle  the  question  of  mental  control  be- 
tween the  teacher  and  the  taught. 

1.  The  natural  strength  of  the  teacher's 
mind. 

2.  His  force  of  character. 

3.  The  interest  he  takes  in  his  work. 

4.  The  clearness  of  his  conception  of 
the  subjects  he  desires  to  teach. 

The  weak,  careless,  indolent  teacher,. 
who  has  not  thoroughly  prepared  the  spe- 
cial lesson  he  has  to  teach,  will  not  be  a 
controlling  power  to  a  very  large  extent. 


CHAPTER  V. 


HOW    TO    CONTROL    A    CLASS. 


It  is  clear  from  what  has  already  been 
said  that  gaining  control  is  a  totally  differ- 
ent matter  from  securing  attention.  Atten- 
tion includes  control,  however,  and  it  is 
therefore  necessary  that  a  teacher  should 
control  his  pupils  as  a  basis  for  obtaining 
attention  from  them.  This  he  may  do  as 
follows : 

1.  By  standing  or  sitting  so  as  to  see 
his  whole  class.  If  a  pupil  feels  that  his 
teacher's  eye  is  constantly  and  quietly  tak- 
ing note  of  all  that  is  going  on  in  his 
class,  he  cannot  fail  to  be  conscious  of  its 
controlling  power.  Unless  he  is  defiant  or 
exceedingly  thoughtless  he  will  need  little 
more  than  the  teacher's  untiring  eye  to  re- 
strain him.    The  eye  can  be  cultivated  and 


INATTENTION.  37 

its  range  of  vision  greatly  widened.  Few 
teachers  have  the  power  to  see  and  watch 
every  pupil  in  a  class  of  fifty  at  the  same 
instant,  but  every  teacher  may  acquire  the 
ability  to  do  so.  It  is  astonishing  to  what 
extent  clearness  of  lateral  vision  may  be 
developed,  without  rolling  the  eyes  from 
side  to  side.  An  uneasy,  nervous  move- 
ment of  the  eyes,  or  a  fixed  stare  neutrali- 
zes the  influence  they  might  exert.  The 
seeing  should  be  done  without  any  appar- 
ent effort,  but  it  should  be  done,  and  done 
unerringly.  Even  when  using  the  black- 
board the  teacher  should  avoid  turning 
his  back  to  his  class.  "  The  eye  has  a 
magic  power.  It  wins,  it  fascinates,  it 
guides,  it  rewards,  it  punishes,  it  controls. 
You  must  learn  how  to  see  every  child  all  the 
time." 

2.  Inattention  must  be  noticed  and 
checked  in  time.  It  is  an  epidemic, 
which  may  be  easily  controlled  in  its  in- 
cipient stage.  The  fire  that  sweeps  away 
in  a  breath  the  proudest  structures  of  a 
mighty  city  might  have  been  quenched 
with  a  few  drops  of  water.     It  is  madness 


38  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

to  allow  a  wave  of  disorder  to  roll  on  and 
on  until  it  has  engulfed  a  whole  class,  and 
then  attempt  to  break  its  force  by  a  coun- 
ter disorder  of  greater  violence.  "  A  stitch 
in  time  saves  nine  "  is  as  true  in  school  as 
in  other  places.  The  inattention  of  one 
pupil  in  a  large  class,  if  of  such  a  negative 
character  as  not  to  attract  the  attention  of 
others,  sometimes  may  be  allowed  to  pass 
unnoticed.  It  may  cost  too  much  to  se- 
cure the  attention  of  such  a  pupil.  The 
whole  class  may  be  diverted  from  the  sub- 
juct  under  consideration  in  doing  so,  and 
a  positive  evil  substituted  for  a  negative. 
The  class  should  not  be  sacrificed  for  the 
individual.  He  may  be  informed  at  the 
close  of  the  lesson,  or  before  passing  to  a 
new  line  of  thought,  that  his  negligence 
has  been  noticed.  This  will  soon  cure 
him,  and  it  will  at  the  same  time  impress 
the  rest  of  the  class  with  the  idea  that  the 
teacher  regards  their  attention  as  of  such 
vital  importance  as  to  avoid  allowing  any- 
thing unnecessarily  to  interrupt  it.  They 
will  learn  the  importance  of  giving  atten- 
tion from  his  actions  and  manners  more 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  39 

clearly  than  from  his  words.  But  as  soon 
as  passive  inattention  develops  into  the 
first  symptoms  of  disorder,  action  must  be 
tak-en  instantly.  How  should  this  action 
betaken?  In  the  quietest  possible  man- 
ner. The  cure  of  the  affected  portion 
should  be  made  without  injury  to  any 
other  part.  If  the  teacher's  object  is  to 
startle  the  whole  class  and  completely  dis- 
sipate their  attention  from  the  subject  in 
hand,  he  should  scold  the  offender  or  strike 
the  desk,  or  stamp  on  the  floor,  or  snap- 
pishly demand  "attention."  If  he  wishes 
to  gain  the  attention  of  the  careless  pupil 
without  allowing  any  one  else  to  know 
that  he  has  been  inattentive,  he  can  usually 
do  so  i'n  one  of  the  following  ways: 

1.  By  briefly  pausing  in  the  lesson. 

2.  By  a  quiet  movement  of  the  hand  or 
head. 

3.  By  a  significant  glance. 

4.  By  giving  a  question  to  the  wandering 
one. 

With  a  fair  degree  of  tact  the  remedy 
may  be  applied  without  loss  of  time  to  any 
but  the  pupil  immediately  concerned. 


/f\>       OF  THK 

to  17  EE SIT 

\  />.        oar 


40  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

It  is  very  desirable  that  the  class  should 
be  saved  from  interruptions  by  the  teacher 
himself.  The  interruptions  referred  to  are 
the  worst  possible,  for  they  not  only  cause 
loss  of  time  and  distraction  of  attention, 
but  they  lead  the  whole  class  to  believe 
that  inattention  is  a  very  common,  and 
therefore  not  a  very  grave  offence. 

3.  By  calm,  fixed,  fearless,  deter- 
mined, patient  "will  power."  Every 
teacher  should  exercise  "willpower"  in 
relation  to  his  class.  It  should  never  be 
exercised  haughtily  or  tyrannically,  but 
always  kindly  and  naturally.  Wilfulness 
and  self-will  are  very  different  from  "  will 
power."  "  Will  power  "  simply  means  the 
ability  to  proceed  undeviatingly  to  a  de- 
sired end,  and  bring  others  along  with  you. 
The  following  are  the  characteristics  which 
"  will  power  "  should  possess: 

i.  //  should  be  calm.  Obedience  on  any 
terms  is  better  than  disobedience,  but  wil- 
ling obedience  must  be  secured  by  the 
teacher  if  he  wishes  to  benefit  his  pupils. 
If  "will  power"  is  exerted  in  a  noisy  or 
violent  manner  it  is  offensive;  if  it  is  of  the 


RETAIN  ATTENTION.  41 

fussy  kind  it  excites  ridicule.  It  must  be 
calm  if  it  would  secure  control,  beneath 
the  placid  surface  of  which  no  rebellion 
lurks  in  ambush. 

2.  It  should  be  fixed.  Some  teachers  are 
intermittent  in  their  exercise  of  "  will 
power."  They  are  fully  charged  with 
energy  and  force  one  day,  but  seem  to 
have  lost  connection  with  their  character 
batteries  on  the  next.  Steady,  even,  regu- 
lar, uniform  control  is  the  kind  required. 
In  the  schoolroom  and  in  the  yard  the 
teacher's  influence  should  be  supreme, 
whether  he  is  present  or  absent.  He  must 
never  be  a  tyrant,  he  should  always  be  a 
governor. 

3.  //  should  be  fearless.  No  one  can  con- 
trol a  pupil  if  he  fears  him  or  his  parents. 
The  teacher  should  carefully  study  his 
proper  social  and  legal  relationship  to  the 
pupils,  their  parents,  and  the  school  author- 
ities.* He  should  stand  on  a  foundation  of 
solid  rock,  and  be  ready  for  prompt  action 
in  cases  of  emergency.     Promptness  and 

*Bardeen's  "  Common  School  Law  for  Common  School 
Teachers,"  50  cts.,  Is  the  standard  authority,  and  covers 
the  ground  completely. 


42  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

deliberation  should  go  hand  in  hand* 
Promptitude  and  haste  or  excitement 
are  not  synonymous.  Hesitation  and 
timidity  on  the  part  of  a  teacher  often  stir 
to  life  germs  of  rebellion  which  might 
otherwise  have  been  left  to  die  for  lack  of 
nutriment, 

4.  //  should  be  determined.  While  a  teach- 
er should  always  pay  due  respect  and  atten- 
tion to  the  advice  of  friends,  he  should 
never  allow  either  the  counsel  of  his 
friends  or  the  opposition  of  foes  to  make 
him  deviate  from  the  course  which  he 
knows  to  be  the  right  and  just  one.  Many 
men  fail  because  when  a  wave  of  opposi- 
tion meets  them  they  feebly  yield  to  its 
power  and  aimlessly  drift  with  it;  when  if 
they  had  met  it  bravely  and  remained  firm 
it  would  soon  have  passed  them  and  left 
them  better  for  its  washing.  The  teacher 
may  yield  many  times  with  profit  to  his 
school  and  to  himself  if  he  does  it  grace- 
fully, but  he  can  never  do  so  when  the 
question  of  control  is  at  stake.  He  must 
then  assert  his  "  will  power  "  in  a  most  de- 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.    •  43 

termined  manner,  without  making  himself 
offensive  or  being  tyrannical. 

5.  It  must  be  patient.  This  is  the  great 
requisite.  The  quality  of  "  will  power  "  is 
of  great  importance,  the  quantity  of  it  at  a 
teachers  disposal  is  of  far  more  conse- 
quence. It  must  wear  well.  There  is  a 
dignity  and  a- majesty  in  the  patient  asser- 
tion of  the  right  and  ability  to  control, 
which  never  "fails  to  command  respect.  It 
is  well,  especially  when  taking  charge  of  a 
new  class,  not  to  try  to  compel  absolute 
order  too  suddenly.  So  long  as  pupils 
are  really  trying  to  do  what  the  teacher 
wishes,  he  will,  if  a  reasonable  man,  Over- 
look slight  offences  until  good  conduct 
has  become  a  habit. 

Control  asserts  itself  chiefly  through  the 
lip,  the  tongue,  and  the  eye.  They  should  be 
used  in  the  inverse  order  to  that  in  which 
they  are  named.  The  eye  should  be  the 
exclusive  medium  of  control,  so  far  as 
possible;  the  tongue  may  be  called  to  its 
aid  in  cases  of  emergency;  the  lip  should 
be  used  very  sparingly.  The  lip  expresses 
firmness,    combined  with    scorn    or   conn 


44  POWER    OF    THE    EYE. 

tempt,  and  these  are  sure  to  stir  up  active 
antagonism,  rather  than  submission.  A 
pupil  may  be,  and  often  is,  forced  to  yield 
without  full  obedience.  The  eye  alone 
can  convey  a  message  of  power  and  con- 
ciliation at  the  same  time,  and  these  are 
the  elements  of  genuine  control. 

However  good  a  teacher's  control  may 
be,  he  must  not  think  that  he  has  secured 
the  attention  of  his  class  merely  on  that 
account. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


METHODS    OF    PRESERVING  AND  STIMULATING 


EDGE. 


Some  one  calls  a  child  an  "  Interroga- 
tive machine."  Truly  the  appetite  for 
knowledge  with  which  nature  endows  him 
is  a  keen  one,  and  difficult  to  satisfy.  Some 
^writers  ma]ntahijjtialjt_^tjhe_^ty  of  the 
school  to  set  the  child  going  mentally,  that 
he  may  be  self-educative  when  he  leaves 
school.  If  pupils  left  school  in  as  self- 
educative  a  condition  as  they  enter  it, 
there  would  be  less  ground  for  complaint 
than  at  present.  The  boy  begins  to  "  go  " 
when  very  young,  and  for  a  few  years  he 
continues  to  develop  at  a  very  rapid  rate! 
Very  few  children  are  dull  when  very 
young.     Most  children   make   remarkable 


46  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

progress  until  they  go  to  school.  Then 
too  often  comes  a  period  of  stagnation 
from  which  many  never  emerge.  Improper 
methods  are  too  often  the  cause  of  the  dis- 
couraging change.  The  following  are 
points  deserving  consideration  by  teach- 
ers of  primary  classes. 

1.  The  transition  from  the  home  to 
the  school  should  be  less  sudden. 

The  child  on  entering  an  ordinary 
school,  passes  from  comparative  freedom 
to  confinement  and  restraint;  from  bound- 
ing activity  to  wearisome  quiet;  from  ac- 
tual things  to  uninteresting  abstractions; 
from  living  flowers,  and  birds,  and  pets,  to 
mere  black  marks  called  letters,  in  which 
for  themselves  he  can  have  no  active  inter- 
est; from  play  to  work;  from  instinctive 
to  compulsory  attention;  from  fresh  air 
and  sunshine  to  bad  ventilation  and  im- 
perfect and  often  injurious  lighting;  from 
the  mossy  bank  to  the  hard  and  ill-formed 
seat. 

Where  the  Kindergarten  can  be  intro- 
duced it  serves  to  made  the  steps  gradual 
in  the  change  from  the  home  to  the  school. 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  47 

The  school  should  learn  many  lessons  yet 
from  the  home  and  the  Kindergarten. 
Teachers  must  study  the  child  more  before 
he  enters  school,  and  they  should  continue 
in  school  more  closely,  the  methods  of  self- 
education  practiced  by  him,  while  he  was 
at  liberty  to  follow  nature's  guidance. 

2.  Knowledge  should  be  used  as  it  is 
acquired.  Children  delight  in  coming  in 
contact  with  things  which  they  can  use. 
They  care  for  what  a  thing  does.  This 
shows  itself  very  early  in  life.  The  baby 
learning  to  talk,  names  the  domestic  ani- 
mals according  to  the  sounds  they  make. 
He  calls  the  dog  "bow-wow,"  and  the  cat 
"  meow."  This  is  true  whether  the  name 
of  the  animal  is  more  or  less  difficult  to 
say  than  the  sound  made.  While  they 
have  been  making  such  rapid  strides  in 
learning  and  mental  development  at  home,, 
they  were  doing  so  by  handling  tne  things 
around  them  arid  by  using  their  knowledge 
as  quickly  as  they  gained  it.  What  a 
change  comes  when  they  go  to  school  ! 
Many  even  of  the  thoughtful  class  of 
teachers    deliberately    reverse    this    plan. 


48  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

J  They  reason  somewhat  in  this  manner: 
"  These  children  can  not  do  much  actual 
work  yet  and  so  we  may  as  well  save  time 
by  making  them  do  the  drudgery  of  school 
work  now."  They  are  therefore  set  to 
learn  all  the' letters,  before  they  begin  to 
read,  all  the  tables  before  they  put  them 
to  any  practical  use  etc.  It  is  probable 
that  the  letters  and  the  multiplication  ta- 
ble have  done  more  to  stupefy  boys  and 
girls  than  any  other  causes.  Girls  and 
boys  can  work  better,  but  become  familiar 
with  the  elements  of  work  they  may  be 
using.  Even  if  the  worst  of  all  methods 
of  teaching  the  names  of  words,  the  alpha- 
betic, be  used,  no  letters  should  be  taught 
at  first  but  those  used  on  the  first  page  or 
tablet  of  reading  in  the  primer.  The  child 
should  use  the  multiplication  table,  for  in- 
stance as  he  learns  it,  and  he  will  thus 
pleasantly  learn  it  as  he  uses  it.  {Jsing 
and  learning  go  hand  in  hand.  Practical 
application  is  the  higest  and  most  effective 
style  of  review.  A  pupil  will  learn  the 
"Two  "line  as  far  as  »*  twice  4  "  in  four 
minutes,  but  he  will  probably  forget  it  in 


RETAIN     ATTENTION.  49 

an  hour,  unless  he  is  allowed  to  apply  the 
knowledge  he  has  gained.  Why  not  teach 
him  the  procees  of  multiplying  at  once  in 
five  minutes  more  and  set  him  at  work  ? 
"  Oh,  the  child  should  never  multiply  un- 
til he  knows  his  multiplication  table!"  says 
some  driller.  Does  the  study  of  the  mul- 
tiplication table  qualify  a  child  for  the 
comprehension  of  the  multiplying  process? 
Certainly  not.  Then  again,  the  child  who 
has  been  taught  as  far  as  "  twice  four  " 
does  know  the  multiplication  table,  so  far 
as  he  is  required  to  put  it  in  practice. 
His  teacher  can  assign  several  examples 
with  no  other  multiplier  but  2,  and  no 
figures  in  the  multiplicand  but  1,  2,  3,  and 
4.  It  will  do  him  great  good  to  work  the 
very  same  examples  over  a  second  or  third 
time.  Next  day  advancement  should  be 
made  in  the  table  and  much  practice  given 
on  both  lessons,  and  so  on  to  the  end. 
This  method  will  not  prove  a  source  of  hor- 
ror to  pupils,  but  will  delight  them  because 
they  usje  the  information  as  they  get  it. 
If  an  apprentice  on  entering  a  machine 
shop,  were  compelled  by  the  foreman  to 


50  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

spend  months  in  learning  the  names  of  the 
various  machines,  and  their  different  parts, 
their  relations  to  each  other,  their  uses, 
etc.,  would  such  a  course  fit  him  to  take 
charge  of  even  one  of  the  machines  ?  The 
probability  is,  that  long  before  the  expira- 
tion of  the  time  specified  his  work  of  learn- 
ing, at  first  fascinating  to  him,  would  be- 
come loathsome,  and  from  loss  of  interest, 
he  would  be  to  a  large  degree  incapaci- 
tated for  the  highest  degree  of  success  in 
his  work.  He.  should,  a'nd  in  charge  of  a 
practical  man  in  any  department  of  work 
he  does,  begin  with  the  simplest  of  all  the 
tools  or  machines,  and  he  learns  how  to 
use  it  by  using  it.  Others  are  entrusted 
to  his  charge  when  he  is  ready  for  them. 
Teachers  should  also  be  reasonable  in 
familiarizing  their  pupils  with  the  tools 
they  have  to  use.  The  letters,  the  tables, 
rules  in  grammar  and  other  subjects,  are 
merely  the  tools  with  which  the  child 
should  be  taught  to  educate  himself,  and 
they  should  be  given  to  him  .only  as  he  is 
able  to  use  them. 

3.  The  work  of  school  should  afford 


RETAIN     ATTENTION.  51 

pleasure.  If  the  desire  for  knowledge  is 
to  be  kept  alive  and  vigorous,  if  it  is  to 
survive  through  the  early  years  of  school 
life,  school  life  must  be  made  attractive. 
Herbert  Spencer  says  that  of  all  the  educa- 
tional changes  taking  place,  "the. most 
significant  is  the  growing  desire  to  make 
the  acquirement  of  knowledge  pleasurable 
rather  than  painful — a  desire  based  on  the 
more  or  less  distinct  perception  that  at 
each  age  the  intellectual  action  which  a  child 
likes  is  a  healthful one  for  it;  and  conversely. 
There  is  a  spreading  opinion  that  the  rise 
of  an  appetite  for  any  kind  of  knowledge 
implies  that  the  unfolding  mind  has  be- 
come fit  to  assimilate  it,  and  needs  it  for 
the  purposes  of  growth;  and  that  on  the 
other  hand,  the  disgust  felt  towards  any 
kind  of  knowledge  is  a  sign  either  that  it 
is  prematurely  presented,  or  that  it  is  pre- 
sented in  an  indigestible  form.  Hence 
the  efforts  to  make  early  education  amus- 
ing, and  all  education  interesting.  *  *  As 
a  final  test  by  which  to  judge  any  plan  of 
culture,  should  come  the  question — Does 
it  create  a  pleasurable  excitement  in  the 


52  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

pupils?  "  Discard  any  system  of  primary 
instruction,  however  time  honored  or  in 
accordance  with  theory  it  may  be,  unless 
it  makes  lessons  attractive.  With  the  older 
children  the  step  from  instinctive  to  con- 
trolled attention  must   be  gradually  taken. 

It  is  very  desirable  that  teachers  should 
avoid  any  course  of  action  which  will  tend 
to  make  learning  distasteful.  If  men  are 
to  be  self-educative  when  they  leave  school, 
they  should  have  a  love  for  knowledge; 
certainly  they  must  not  have  an  aversion 
to  it.  Lessons  should  never  be  assigned 
as  a  punishment.  Pupils  may  be  com- 
pelled to  do  after  school  or  at  home,  work 
which  they  have  neglected  to  do  at  the 
right  time.  This  is  not  a  punishment  for 
the  neglect  however,  but  the  performance 
of  a  duty  which  ought  to  have  been  done 
before. 

4.  School  exercises  should  be  varied 
as  much  as  possible.  Of  course  the  pro- 
gramme of  studies  should  be  fixed,  and. 
the  time  table  adhered  to  regularly.  The 
plan  of  presenting  a  subject  should  be 
changed,    however.     Some   new    element 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  53 

should  be  introduced  each  day.  In  teach- 
ing Geography,  for  instance,  the  map  may 
be  used  one  day,  blackboard  and  slates  the 
next,  and  the  sand-box  the  next;  to-day 
the  teacher  may  point  to  the  places  he 
wishes  to  have  remembered  and  the  pupils 
find  their  names,  tu-morrow  he  may  give 
the  names  and  they  find  their  positions  on 
the  map.  The  plan  should  be  varied  dur- 
ing a  single  recitation,  to  a  certain  extent. 
So  long  as  variety  does  not  dissipate  the 
attention,  there  can  not  be  too  much  of  it. 
Freshness  stimulates  mental  activity,  rou- 
tine deadens  it. 

5.  The  child's  curiosity  should  ha 
kept  alive.  Some  pupils  are  on  the  tip- 
toe of  expectation.  The  teacher  who  can 
secure  such  a  condition  in  his  class,  is  cer- 
tain to  have  attentive  scholars.  Natural 
aptitude  in  the  teacher  has  something  to 
do  in  stimulating  the  curiosity  of  pupils. 
The  power  to  sustain  it,  however,  must  be 
acquired  Pupils  will  not  long  seek  to  be 
fed  with  chaff.  The  teacher  must  be  prepared v 
to  gratify  the  appetite  which  he  aims  to  develop. 
He  must  be  familiar  with  the  subjects  he 


54  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

has  to  teach;  he  should  keep  well  acquaint- 
ed with  all  that  relates  to  them  in  connec- 
tion with  current  events.  Hart  aptly  says: 
vi  "  To  real,  successful  teaching,  there  must 
be  two  things,  namely,  the  ability  to  hold 
the  minds  of  the  children,  and  the  ability 
to  pour  into  the  minds  thus  presented 
sound  and  seasonable  instruction.  Lack- 
ing the  latter  ability,  your  pupil  goes 
away  with  his  vessel  unfilled;  lacking  the 
former,  you  only  pour  water  on  the 
ground." 

6.  The  lessons  given  and  the  subjects 
taught  ought  to  he  adapted  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  pupils.  If  lessons  are 
too  difficult  a  child  will  naturally  turn 
from  them,  first  in  disappointment,  after- 
wards with  dislike.  The  subjects  should 
be  presented  in  a  manner  suited  to  the 
ages  of  the  pupils  taught.  Some  of  the 
most  interesting  studies  are  rendered  per- 
manently obnoxious  by  improper  methods 
of  teaching  them  to  children  at  first.  In 
teaching  grammar,  for  instance,  dry,  diffi- 
cult, and  uninteresting  rules,  with  puzz- 
ling exceptions  to  the  genera/  rule,  are  memor- 


RETAIN     ATTENTION.  55 

ized  and  recited,  and  the  teacher  (in  addi- 
tion to  this  outrage)  actually  deceives  the 
unfortunate  and  long-suffering  pupils  by 
allowing  them  to  believe  that  such  weari- 
some drudgery  is  learning  grammar. 
They,  ot  course,  in  most  cases,  associate 
the  unpleasant  feelings  they  receive  in 
school  with  study  and  learning  in  the  ab- 
stract, and  therefore  get  a  distaste  for 
knowledge  itself.  Let  the  methods  and  the 
subjects  be  appropriate  for  the  ages  of  the 
pupils,  and  their  love  of  learning  will  con- 
tinue. 

7.  The  steps  in  learning  should  not 
he  too  great.  If  a  desire  for  knowledge 
is  to  be  maintained,  the  pupil  must  be  able 
to  see  clearly  how  one  portion  of  a  subject 
is  connected  with  another.  The  step  to  be 
taken  should  be  based  on  those  already 
established,  and  the  teacher  should  remem- 
ber that  what  appears  but  a  mole-hill  to 
him  may  be  a  mountain  to  his  pupils.  He 
is  the  best  teacher  who  can  most  clearly 
remember  his  own  early  difficulties  in 
learning. 


56  BRIEF    LESSONS. 

8.  Lessons  must  not  be  too  long.  This 
is  true,  both  as  regards  lessons  at  school 
and  those  assigned  for  home  preparation. 
\  Long-continued  lessons  in  school  weary 
\  the  mind;  long  lessons  learned  at  home 
tire  both  mind  and  body.  When  learning 
becomes  a  "  task  "  it  necessarily  ceases  to 
be  attractive  in  itself.  It  should  not  be 
surprising  that  under  such  circumstances 
children  lose  their  natural  eagerness  for 
knowledge. 

If  the  suggestions  given  be  carried  out 
in  the  right  spirit,  boys  and  girls  will 
continue  to  be  ''  interrogative  machines  * 
throughout  their  whole  lives. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


HOW     TO     GRATIFY     AND     DEVELOP    THE    NA- 
TURAL   DESIRE    FOR    MENTAL 
.       ACTIVITY. 


Activity  is  one  of  the  instincts  of  child- 
hood. It  is  not  happy  unless  its  mental  or 
physical  powers  or  both  are  engaged. 
*'  Productive  activity  "  is  the  corner  stone  of 
the  delightful  and  truly  philosophical  sys- 
tem of  Frcebel.  Give  a  child  work  to  do 
of  a  character  suited  to  his  age,  let  it  call 
his  mental  faculties  and  manual  abilities 
into  play,  and  he  will  be  attentive,  not 
merely  because  he  is  occupied,  but  because 
his  occupation  gives  him  delight.  Fellen- 
berg  says:  "  Experience  has  taught  me  that 
indolence  in  young  persons  is  so  directly 
opposite  to  their  natural  disposition  to  ac- 
tivity, that  unless  it  is  the  consequence  of 


58  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

bad  education,  it  is  almost  invariably  con- 
nected with  some  constitutional  defect." 
Hailman  says :  "  Perhaps  attention  and 
activity  of  the  mind  are  convertible  terms; 
for  we  observe  that  the  mind  is  never 
attentive,  unless  it  is  aroused  to  action  by 
some  external  cause  (such  as  a  wonderful 
object,  an  exciting  scene,  a  thrilling  nar- 
rative, a  deep  sorrow),  or  by  an  internal 
cause — the  will."  It  is  important,  there- 
fore, in  order  to  secure  attention,  that  every 
means  be  taken  to  awaken  and  satisfy  the 
child's  mental  activity.  To  do  this  it  will  be 
found  necessary  to  attend  to  the  follow- 
ing:— 

1.  Do  as  little  telling  as  possible 
when  teaching.  Of  course,  the  teacher 
should  not  try  to  teach  everything  by  ex- 
periment, as  he  would  waste  time  in  doing 
so.  The  accumulated  knowledge  of  the 
ages  is  a  store  from  which  the  pupils  ought 
to  be  allowed  to  draw  largely  without 
making  all  the  necessary  discoveries  and 
progressive  steps  themselves.  But  when- 
ever the  teacher  can  lead  his  pupils  in  the 
development  of  a  subject  he  should  do  so. 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  59 

He  should  not  allow  them  to  wander  in 
search  of  the  gold  mines  of  knowledge, 
neither  should  he  dig  the  gold  and  coin  it 
for  them.  The  word  for  "  schoolmaster  " 
in  the  Welsh  language  has  a  very  sugges- 
tive meaning.  The  word  for  school  is 
"  Ysgol,"  which  conveys  the  meaning  at 
once  of  progression  in  learning  being  step 
by  step,  commencing  at  the  lowest  rung 
and  going  upwards.  The  Welsh  name  for 
schoolmaster  is  "  Ysgolfeister,"  the  full 
significance,  being  "  One  that  teaches  to 
climb."  The  teacher  should  not  merely 
climb  himself  and  throw  down  to  his  pu- 
pils the  treasures  which  he  finds.  He 
should  teach  each  pupil  to  climb  for  him- 
self, so  that  as  he  goes  higher  he  may 
grow  stronger.  "  This  need  for  perpetual  ^£ 
telling  is  the  result  of  our  stupidity,  not  the 
child's.  We  drag  it  away  from  the  facts 
in  which  it  is  interested,  and  which  it  is 
actively  assimilating  for  itself;  we  put  be- 
fore it  facts  far  too  complex  for  it  to  un- 
derstand, and  therefore  distasteful  to  it; 
finding  that  it  will  no^  voluntarily  acquire 
these  facts,  we  thrust  them  into  its  mind 
by   force  ot   threats   and   punishment;  by 


60  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

thus  denying  it  tjie  knowledge  it  craves, 
and  cramming  it  with  knowledge  it  cannot 
digest,  we  produce  a  morbid  state  of  the 
faculties,  and  a  consequent  disgust  for 
knowledge  in  general;  and  when,  as  a  re- 
sult partly  of  the  stolid  indolence  we  have 
brought  on,  and  partly  of  still  continued 
unfitness  in  its  studies,  the  child  can  un- 
derstand nothing  without  explanation,  and 
becomes  a  mere  passive  recipient  of  our 
instruction,  we  infer  that  education  must 
necessarily  be  carried  on  thus.  Having  by 
our  method  induced  helplessness,  we 
straightway  make  the  helplessness  a  reason 
for  our  method."* 

2.  Give  the  pupils  their  rightful 
share  in  the  work  of  study.  Too  much 
dependence  is  placed  on  eye  teaching  by 
many  teachers.  The  observant  faculties 
are  certainly  of  great  importance,  and  the 
teacher  who  develops  them  to  a  high  de- 
gree will  be  well  repaid  for  his  trouble. 
Pupils  may  see  a  great  deal  without  receiv- 
ing fixed  impressions  however.  Seeing 
does  not  require  intensity  of  attention. 
♦Intellectual  Education.—  Herbert  Spence' . 


K 


RETAIN     ATTENTION.  6l 

The  teacher  cannot  always  be  certain  that 
the  looking  child  is  thinking  about  the  sub- 
ject in  hand.  He  may  look  at  the  teacher, 
or  the  blackboard,  or  an  object  and  yet  be 
thinking  about  his  last  fishing  experience. 
To  require  each  pupil  to  do  for  himself, 
is  the  only  way  of  absolutely  compelling 
him  to  attend.  It  is  not  receiving  knowl- 
edge that  fixes  it  in  the  minds  of  pupils, 
but  reproducing  it.  If  it  can  be  repro- 
duced by  the  hand  in  a  visible  form,  the 
attention  is  necessarily  most  continuous. 
The  mind  must  attend,  if  it  has  to  guide  the 
hand.  Each  pupil  should  do  for  himself 
the  map  his  teacher  draws  on  the  board, 
he  must  do  the  correction  of  his  own  mis- 
takes; and  if  he  is  made  to  do  work  with 
his  hands  in  learning  any  subject  by  even 
writing  down  the  statements  made  con- 
cerning it,  the  impressions  made  will  be 
more  permanent  than  in  any  other  way. 
The  inattention  so  lamentably  noticeable 
in  most  Sunday  Schools,  and  many  Public 
Schools,  is  due  to  the  facts  that  pupils  are 
mere  recipients  of  information  and  not 
active  participators  in  the  process  of  learning. 
They  are  hearers,whentheys.hould  be  doers 


• 


62  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

3.  Do  not  weary  the  minds  of  the  pu- 
pils. A  proper  amount  of  physical  exer- 
cise produces  beneficial  effects  on  the  mus- 
cular system;  beyond  a  certain  point  it  is 
exhaustive.  So  a  judicious  amount  of 
mental  exercise  strengthens  and  develops 
the  mental  powers,  but  study  after  the  "  fa- 
tigue point  "  has  been  reached  has  a  de- 
bilitating effect.  The  moderate  use  of  the 
physical  powers  gives  pleasure,  and  in- 
creases the  longing  for  exertion;  so  the 
judicious  application  of  the  mind  awakens 
greater  desire  for  study,  and  gives  addi- 
tional power  to  investigate  the  problems 
which  may  be  presented  for  thought.  Pro- 
fessor Pillans  held  that,  "where  young 
people  are  taught  as  they  ought  to  be, 
they  are  quite  as  happy  in  school  as  at 
play,  seldom  less  delighted,  nay,  often 
more,  with  the  well-directed  use  of  their 
mental  energies,  than  with  that  of  their 
muscular  powers." 

4.  Bo  not  overload  the  minds  of  th& 
pupils.  The  carrying  power  of  a  child's 
mind  is  frequently  over  estimated  by  teach- 
ers.    Many  brilliant  boys  are  made  to  carry 


RETAIN     ATTENTION.  63 

such  large  loads  of  knowledge  during  their 
schooldays,  that  they  become  mentally 
paralyzed  to  a  certain  extent,  and  never 
recover  their  full  vigor  of  thought.  This 
partly  accounts  for  the  fact  that  so  many 
clever  school  boys  turn  out  to  be  only  me- 
diocre men.  Over-eating  causes  dyspep- 
sia and  destroys  the  appetite  for  food. 
There  are  mental  dyspeptics. 

5.  Have  matches  in  the  various 
school  subjects.  Who  does  not  remem- 
ber the  enlivening  effects  of  the  spelling 
matches  of  his  boyhood?  So  intensely 
was  their  attention  concentrated  upon  the 
subject  in  hand,  that  grown  men  remem- 
ber distinctly  the  very  words  missed  by 
themselves  and  others  in  some  remarbable 
contests.  Such  matches  may  just  as  well 
be  conducted  in  reviewing  the  other  school 
subjects  as  in  spelling,  and  their  effects  in 
inspiriting  classes  will  always  be  found  to 
be  very  beneficial.  They  should  not  be 
held  at  stated  times,  or  conducted  in  a  for- 
mal and  indifferent  manner  by  the  teacher, 
or  they  will  lose  their  interest. 


64  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

6.  Let  pupils  question   each    other. 

The  contests  which  will  awaken  the  high- 
est degree  of  mental  activity  on  the  part  of 
pupils  are  those  conducted  by  themselves. 
Confine  them  to  the  work  actually  taught 
and  give  them  due  notice,  and  such  exer- 
cises will  produce  the  most  satisfactory 
results.  No  other  plan  will  set  pupils  to 
work  for  themselves  more  earnestly  and 
intelligently.  It  is  a  good  plan  in  some 
subjects  to  prepare  a  series  of  questions 
for  the  pupils  covering  the  work  to  be 
learned.  These  should  not  be  given  that 
the  pupils  may  merely  prepare  answers  to 
them,  to  be  recited  in  a  parrot-like  manner. 
They  should  simply  guide  to  the  golden 
thoughts.  They  may  be  of  use  also  to  the 
pupils  in  preparing  for  the  contests  recom- 
mended. Professor  White,  of  Oberlin  Col- 
lege, says:  "  The  pupils  of  a  certain  high 
school  failed  to  be  instructed  in  '  The  Sci- 
ence of  Government,'  in  which  weekly 
exercises  had  been  given  to  them  for 
nearly  a  whole  term.  In  despair  the  prin- 
cipal wrote  carefully  200  questions,  cov- 
ering the  whole  work.  These  he  placed 
in    the    hands  of  each  pupil,   and   divid- 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.    „  65 

ing  the  whole  school  into  two  sides, 
allowed  each  in  turn  to  question  the  other 
side  till  he  obtained  a  satisfactory  answer, 
while  he  sat  by  to  watch  the  '  slaughter  of 
the  innocents.'  The  first  exercise  was  a 
failure,  seeming  merely  to  arouse  the 
school;  the  second  was  successful,  and~the 
fifth  was  brilliant." 

7.  Question  while  teaching.  Some 
teachers  ask  questions  only  while  review- 
ing. This  is  a  serious  mistake.  To  test 
knowledge  is  certainly  one  of  the  func- 
tions of  questioning,  but  it  is  a  subordinate 
one.  Socratic,  Instructive,  Teaching,  or 
Developing  questioning  is  the  most  effica- 
cious mode  of  teaching.  It  does  not  sim- 
ply give  information;  it  arouses  the  minds 
of  pupils  to  activity,  guides  the  active 
minds  in  the  acquisition  of  knowledge, 
and  sets  the  stored  minds  upon  the  plan  of 
using  the  information  obtained.  It  devel- 
ops not  only  receptive>  but  productive  activity. 
"  He  who  gives  knowledge  to  the  human 
mind  is  a  benefactor;  but  far  greater  is  he 
who  by  giving  knowledge  quickens  into 
activity  and  productiveness  the  mind  upon 


66  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

which  he  works.  The  true  teaching  pro- 
cess involves  the  power  of  intellectual  quick- 
eningy  which  is  that  process  by  which  the 
teacher  excites  the  intellectual  powers  of 
his  pupils  to  self-activity  in  the  line  of  his 
teaching;  and  to  be  really  effective  it  must 
also  lead  to  the  courses  ot  thought,  feel- 
ing, purpose,  and  action,  which  are  the 
proper  products  of  the  truth  taught." 

Teachers  should  talk  and  tell  less,  and 
draw  out  more.  Questioning  from  the 
known  to  the  unknown  welds  the  links  in 
the  chain  of  knowledge  as  they  are  formed, 
so  that  when  completed  they  are  not 
merely  isolated  facts.  It  gives  a  pupil  a 
conscious  power  to  show  him  that  he  can 
overcome  difficulties  for  himself. 

8.  Use  illustrations.  There  are  sev- 
eral kinds  of  illustrations.  The  following 
should  be  largely  used  in  teaching: 

i.  Blackboard  illustration. 

2.  Picture,  map,  and  chart  illustration. 

3.  Model  illustration. 

4.  Object  illustration. 

5.  Illustration  by  experiments. 

6.  Dramatic  illustration. 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  6f 

Blackboard  illustration  is  of  more  use 
than  any  or  perhaps  all  other  kinds  of 
illustration.  Every  teacher  can  use  it;  no 
teacher  should  try  to  teach  without  it.  Its 
superiority  over  other  methods  of  illustra- 
tion consists  chiefly  in  the  fact  the  work 
grows  in  the  presence  of  the  pupils.  They 
see  it  made  and  help  to  make  it,  either  by 
actually  handling  the  crayon,  or  by  mak- 
ing suggestions  step  by  step  as  to  what 
should  be  done  next.  The  teacher  who 
presents  a  finished  illustration  to  his  class 
weakens  its  effect  by  at  least  one  half.  It 
is  nearly  as  bad  to  do  the  whole  illustra- 
tion, even  in  the  presence  of  the  pupils, 
without  explanation  to  them,  or  assistance 
from  them  at  every  step.  Some  teachers 
work  the  complete  solution  of  a  prob- 
lem on  the  board,  when  illustrating  a 
new  rule  in  arithmetic  or  algebra  without 
speaenftg  or  even  looking  at  the  class  until 
they  have  finished  it.  Then  they  turn 
round  and  give  the  explanation  in  the  ste- 
reotyped question,  "  Do  you  see  ?  "  They 
would  have  interested  their  pupils  a  great 
deal  more,  and  have  educated  them  nearly 
as  much,  by  tossing  a  copper  for  "  heads  or 


68  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

tails."     The   following    rules    should    be 
practised  in  blackboard  illustration: 

1.  Let  the  work  done  be  simple  in  its 
character. 

2.  Avoid  symbolism,  rebuses,  &c. 

3.  Arrange  the  steps  in  the  process  of 
thought  in  logical  order. 

4.  Number  the  various  steps  either  by 
figures  or  letters. 

5.  The  steps  in  the  illustration  should 
be  done  as  the  process  of  thought  is  devel- 
oped. 

6.  When  illustrating  distinctive  charac- 
teristics, peculiarities  of  growth  or  con- 
struction, &c,  in  teaching  botany,  zoology, 
natural  philosophy,  &c,  it  is  well  to  exag- 
gerate the  special  parts  to  which  attention 
should  be  directed. 

7.  In  solving  a  problem,  making  a  dia- 
gram, drawing  a  map,  explaining  the  con- 
struction of  a  machine,  in  fact  in  all  kinds 
of  blackboard  work,  every  pupil  ought  to 
do  on  slate  or  paper  what  the  teacher  does 
on  the  board,  and  usually  part  by  part 
after  him. 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  69 

2.  Picture,  map,  and  chart  illustra- 
tion may  be  used  in  conjunction  with 
blackboard  illustration,  both  preceding 
and  following  it,  to  give  a  correct  idea  of 
things  as  wholes,  and  to  show  in  some 
cases  the  coloring,  &c.  They  ought  to  be 
used  too  in  testing  the  accuracy  of  the 
work  done  by  the  teacher  and  pupils.  For 
instance,  when  a  map  has  been  sketched 
it  should  be  compared  in  its  leading  out- 
lines with  the  actual  map  to  see  whether 
the  great  features  bear  their  proper  rela- 
tions to  each  other;  whether  Florida  ex- 
tends further  south  than  California,  &c. 

3.  Model  illustration  is  used  by  some 
teachers  very  successfully  by  cutting  out 
the  shapes  of  things  or  their  parts  trom 
brown  paper,  &c.  Models  of  machines,  of 
the  parts  of  the  human  frame,  &c,  may  be 
obtained,  which  will  be  of  great  use  in 
teaching  some  subjects.  Good  teachers, 
howerve,  usually  try  to  make  most  of  their 
own  models. 

4t.  In  Object  illustration  the  pupils 
should  not  merely  look  at  the  things  used. 


70  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

They  should  take  them  in  their  hands  and 
examine  them.  This  will  enable  them  to 
get  additional  ideas  through  the  sense  of 
touch,  and  will  clearly  define  those  re- 
ceived by  looking  at  the  object  at  a  dis- 
tance. It  will  also  give  them  a  deeper  in- 
terest in  the  object  to  be  permitted  to  han- 
dle it.  It  is  sometimes  well  to  state  the 
nature  of  the  information  desired  before 
passing  an  object  around,  but  frequently 
the  pupils  should  be  required  to  examine 
specimens  with  the  view  of  finding  out  as 
as  much  as  possible  about  them.  This  will 
make  them  independent  observers. 

5.  Illustration  by  experiment  should 
as  far  as  possible  be  conducted  on  the 
same  principles  as  object  illustration.  It. 
produces  its  highest  results  when  every 
student  performs  for  himself  the  experi- 
ments described  by  the  teacher.  If  this 
cannot  be  done,  the  pupils,  unless  the 
class  be  too  large,  should  assist  the  teach- 
er, each  taking  some,  part  in  preparing  for 
the  experiment. 

6.  Dramatic  illustration  means  repre- 


RETAIN     ATTENTION.  71 

sentation  by  action.  The  living,  energetic 
teacher  uses  this  method  of  illustration 
very  largely,  and  if  appropriate  it  always 
aids  greatly  in  communicating  knowledge. 
It  is  of  much  use  in  giving  ideas  of  shape, 
size,  direction,  motion,  action  of  machines, 
etc.  Any  one  who  has  ever  seen  a  deaf 
mute  address  an  audience  by  signs,  must 
have  realized  to  what  an  extent  action  may 
be  even  substituted  for  speech.  A  good 
teacher  always  uses  his  hands  and  arms  to 
emphasize,  and  illustrate  what  he  says  to 
his  class. 

In  all  kinds  of  illustration  it  is  well  to 
keep  the  pictures,  charts,  maps,  modelsr 
objects,  apparatus,  etc.,  out  of  sight  as 
much  as  possible  until  the  time  arrives  for 
using  it.  This  stimulates  the  curiosity  of 
the  pupils  and  prevents  the  distraction  of 
their  attention.  To  show  pictures  at  once, 
or  to  present  the  spectacle  of  a  table  cov- 
ered with  apparatus  is  a  capital  method  of 
gaining  attention  to  the  pictures  or  appar- 
atus. It  may  make  it  all  the  more  diffi- 
cult, however,  on  this  account  to  get  the 
attention  concentrated  on  the  lesson  itself. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


CULTIVATION    OF    THE    SENSES. 


"  Attention  to  the  external  is  called  ob- 
servation, to  the  internal  reflection. "  It  is 
of  the  highest  importance  that  the  senses 
be  trained  so  that  they  may  be  able  to  per- 
form properly  the  various  functions  re- 
quired of  them  through  life.  We  should 
not  aim  at  an  impossible  standard,  or 
strive  only  to  develop  acuteness  of  the 
senses.  Alertness  is  also  required.  Sharp- 
ness of  vision  will  be  of  no  service  if  the 
eyes  are  kept  closed;  acuteness  of  hearing 
will  do  little  good  unless  the  mind  is  in  a 
receptive  attitude.  The  telephonic  circuit 
must  be  established  before  the  hearing 
produces  impressions  on  the  brain.  Pes- 
talozzi  held  that,  "Observation  is  the 
basis  of  all  knowledge.  The  first  object, 
then,  in  education,  must  be  to  lead  the 
child  to  observe  with  accuracy." 
I 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  73 

We  should  aim,  then,  to  make  the  senses 

Attentive, 

Acute, 

Alert, 

Accurate. 
How  can  this  be  done  ? 

1.  By  Object  Lessons.  The  three  rules 
for  the  development  of  the  senses  are,  ist 
exercise  them,  2d,  exercise  them,  3d,  exercise 
them.  Well  conducted  object  lessons  will 
give  an  opportunity  for  the  required  exer- 
cise better  than  any  other  school  subject. 
Unfortunately  what  are  called  "object  les- 
sons "  are  commonly  used  merely  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  information,  rather  than 
to  develop  the  power  ofacquiring  it.  Ob- 
ject lessons  should  not  be  statements  of 
facts  concerning  the  objects  used  The 
information  may  be  valuable,  but  in  true 
object  teaching  it  occupies  a  secondary  or 
incidental  place.  The  ,great  aim,  indeed 
the  only  aim  of  the  teacher  should  be  to 
present  a  well  selected  system  of  objects 
to  the  pupils,  about  which  they  may  exer- 
cise their  senses.  Lessons  on  "common 
things  "  may  be  taught,  and  if  taught  they 


17  EE  SIT  T 


74  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

should  as  far  as  possible  be  taught  object- 
ively, but  lessons  on  "common  things" 
are  no  more  true  "object  lessons" than  les- 
sons in  Geography,  History  or  Grammar. 
Arithmetic,  Geometry,  Natural  Philoso- 
phy, Chemistry,  Natural  History  and  Bot- 
any when  properly  taught  are  true  object 
lessons.  Lessons  on  common  things  in- 
tended to  convey  information,  concerning 
the  source,  growth,  production,  etc.,  of  the 
things  used  in  every-day  life  are  not  ob- 
ject lessons.  However  valuable  or  prac- 
tical the  information  may  be,  if  the  teacher 
contents  himself  with  merely  storing  his 
pupils'  minds  with  it  he  is  lamentably  fail- 
ing to  perform  his  true  duty.  However 
able  the  teacher  may  be,  the  shortness  of 
the  time  during  which  most  children  at- 
tend school,  prevents  his  giving  informa- 
tion in  regard  to  the  greater  portion  of  the 
vast  field  of  knowledge.  Hailman  says: 
"There  must  be  a  systematic  Maying  up' 
of  positive  information,  but  this  is  of  sec- 
ondary importance,  compared  with  learning 
how  to  form  and  express  ideas.  One  is  the 
ability  to  work,  the  other  the  result  of  the 
work,  one  is  an  essential  the  other  a  conse- 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  75 

quence,  one  is  constant,  the  same  at  all 
times  and  under  all  circumstances,the  latter 
must  change  with  time  and  circumstances. " 
The  teacher's  duty  is  to  continue  the  educa- 
tive process  begun  by  nature  before  the 
school  period,  and  to  send  a  pupil  to  the 
world  again  at  the  conclusion  of  his  school 
life  fully  prepared  to  continueunderall  cir- 
cumstances and  at  all  times  the  process  of 
self-education.  The  faculties  which  the 
child  has  on  entering  school  should  not 
merely  be  filled  with  information,  they 
should  be  nourished  and  strengthened. 
The  teacher's  aim  in  teaching  should  be 
first  to  develop,  second  to  store  the  mind 
with  knowledge.  This  is  true  of  all  sub- 
jects, but  especially  of  object  lessons.  Ob- 
ject lessons  should  be  given  in  teaching 
nearly  every  subject,  however.  The  name 
"Object  Lesson"  is  misleading,  as  it  re- 
stricts broad  principles  to  one  compara- 
tively unimportant  department  of  school 
work.  Many  speakers  on  educational  top- 
ics speak  as  though  developing  or  intuition 
teaching  was  only  to  be  practised  while 
teaching  object  lessons.  No  greater  error 
could  be  made.       But  even  in  "giving" 


j6  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

an  object  lesson  many  teachers  seem  to  re- 
gard the  giving  of  mere  facts  as  the  great 
aim  to  be  kept  in  view.  Perhaps  the  most 
ridiculous  feature  of  such  object  teaching 
is  the  fact,  that  teachers  usually  select 
for  their  lessons  some  common  objects, 
with  which  the  pupils  are  quite  as  well  ac- 
quainted as  they  are  themselves.  It  is 
right  to  select  common  objects  for  proper 
"object  lessons,"  but  not  for  information 
exercises. 

The  books  on  object  teaching  are  to 
blame  for  much  of  the  misunderstanding 
in  reference  to  this  subject.  They  are 
mere  compendiums  of  information.  They 
give  mattaiJUQl  method.  "The  intention  of 
object  lessons  is  not  so  much  to  commun- 
icate information  as  to  put  children  in  the 
way  of  collecting  information  for  them- 
selves; to  sharpen  and  direct  their  senses; 
to  teach  them  to  see  things,  instead  of 
merely  looking  at  them,  and  to  decom- 
pose the  confused  aggregateof  impressions 
which  things  at  first  make  upon  the  mind ; 
to  get  them  to  classify  and  connect  simple 
phenomena  with  their  antecedents  and 
consequents;  to  exercise  their  reason;  and 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  77 

to  do  this  in  Nature's  own  way,  by  bring- 
ing the  learner,  as  far  as  possible  into  di- 
rect contact  with  things,  and  satisfying  his 
own  instinctive  needs." 

In  teaching  object  lessons  the  following 
rules  should  be  observed: 

1.  Let  every  pupil  have  the  opportunity 
of  examining  the  object. 

2.  Let  the  pupils  examine  first  with  a 
view  of  finding  out  as  much  as  possible 
about  the  object  themselves. 

3.  Let  them,  if  necessary,  then  inspect 
it  for  specific  results  named  by  the  teacher. 

They  should  be  independent  of  the 
teacher  in  making  their  observations,  as 
they  will  have  to  depend  upon  themselves 
after  they  leave  school,  therefore  the  first 
method  of  instruction  should  be  most  reg- 
ularly used. 

2.  Reading.  By  true  Object  lessons  all 
the  senses  may  be  developed.  The  two 
senses  which  teachers  should  specially  aim 
to  cultivate  are  hearing  and  seeing.  "The 
defects  in  organization  are  not  within  the 
power  of  the  preceptor;  but  we  may  ob- 
serve that  inattention  and  want  of  exercise 


78  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

are  frequently  the  causes  of  what  are  mis- 
taken for  natural  defects;  and,  on  the  con- 
trary, increased  attention  and  cultivation 
sometimes  produce  that  quickness  of  eye 
and  ear,  and  that  consequent  readiness  of 
judgment,  which  we  are  apt  to  attribute  to 
natural  superiority  of  organization  or 
capacity. 

For  rendering  the  hearing  acute  and  alert 
there  is  no  subject  on  the  school  programme 
of  such  importance  as  reading,  if  it  is  prop- 
erly taught. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  telling  done  im- 
properly in  the  teaching  of  reading. 
When  a  pupil  has  finished  his  reading  the 
teacher  usually  at  once  proceeds  to  tell  him 
the  mistakes  he  has  made.  "  You  should  say 
re-cess',  instead  of  re'-cess,  catch  instead  of 
ketch,  get  instead  of  git ;  you  should  not 
pause  after  in ;  you  should  pause  after 
March ;  you  should  emphasize  dying,  etc., 
■etc."  That  this  is  a  mistake  will  at  once 
be  seen,  when  it  is  remembered  that  cor- 
rect reading  and  speaking  depend  upon 
•earcultivation  more  than  on  anything  else. 
The  great  majority  of  people  do  not  per- 
ceive, when  they  hear  a  word  pronounced 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  79 

in  a  manner  different  from  the  way  in 
which  they  are  accustomed  to  pronounce 
it  themselves.  Unless  some  one  calls  at- 
tention to  their  errors,  they  go  on  mispro- 
nouncing words,  which  they  hear  pro- 
nounced correctly  every  day.  This  result 
should  be  expected  if  pupils  are  corrected 
in  the  above  manner  throughout  their 
school  life. 

When  a  mistake  is  made  in  pronuncia- 
tion, accent,  emphasis,  pauses,  intonation, 
etc.,  the  teacher  should  give  the  correct 
reading  himself,  or  get  one  of  the  best 
pupils  to  do  so,  and  call  on  the  pupil  who 
made  the  error  to  state  the  difference  be- 
tween his  reading  and  that  of  his  teacher. 
If  he  cannot  do  so,  it  is  useless  to  ask  him 
to  "  read  it  again  "  as  is  frequently  done. 
The  teacher  should  read  the  sentence,  or 
that  portion  in  which  the  error  is  made,  in 
both  the  correct  and  the  incorrect  way, 
emphasizing  the  error  slightly  if  neces- 
sary, until  the  pupil  can  distinguish  the 
one  method  from  the  other.  In  this  way 
the  ear  will  be  quickened  and  attentive, 
and  the   pupil   will   become  self-educative 


80  HOW    TO    SECURE     AND 

in  this  respect,  as  he  should  be  in  all  others, 
when  he  leaves  school. 

The  seeing  power  may  also  be  devel- 
oped in  a  high  degree  by  reading.  The 
vision  must  be  acute  to  read  well.  Every 
letter  in  every  word  must  be  looked  at, 
and  yet  the  perceptions  must  be  sharp 
and  clearly  defined.  To  many  pupils  when 
learning  the  words  appear  indistinct,  as 
they  look  to  one  reading  in  a  faint  light. 
This  must  be  remedied  by  practice.  It 
will  not  help  the  pupil  to  see  accurately 
if.the  mis-named  words  are  corrected  by 
the  teacher.  If  the  pupil,  for  instance, 
reads  verily,  very,  and  the  teacher  merely 
says,  as  most  teachers  do,  "  Call  that  word 
very?'  the  pupil's  vision  is  not  rendered 
more  sharp.  When  mis-calling  words  is 
the  only  mistake  made  or  the  special  one 
to  be  corrected,  the  best  method-  the 
teacher  can  adopt  is  to  say,  "Read  again 
carefully."  The  pupil  can  correct  his  own 
mistakes  in  this  case,  and  he  should  be 
made  to  do  so. 

3.  Spelling.  While  both  the  eye  and 
the   ear   can    be   developed    by   means   of 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  81 

spelling,  it  is  mainly  through  the  former 
that  we  must  teach  this  subject.  Good 
spelling  depends  on  the  "  memory  of  the 
eye."  The  London  Times  once  said,  "  Spell- 
ing is  learnt  by  reading,  and  nothing  but 
reading  can  teach  spelling."  Spelling  de- 
pends on  the  intensity  of  the  attention  with 
which  pupils  look  at  words  and  their  parts 
while  reading  them.  If  teachers  can  suc- 
ceed in  developing  the  habit  of  close  and 
accurate  scrutiny  of  the  letters  in  the  words 
during  reading  lessons,  they  will  have  lit- 
tle bad  spelling.  Careless  readers  are  in- 
accurate spellers.  The  eye  has  to  look  at 
each  individual  letter  on  a  page  as  it  is 
read.  Attention  then  cannot  be  sustained, 
as  the  glance  at  each  letter  must  be  instan- 
taneous. It  should,  however,  be  intense, 
and,  as  most  words  recur  frequently,  it 
will  be  oft  repeated.  On  the  intensity  and 
and  repetition  of  attention  depend  the  ac- 
curacy and  permanence  of  impressions,  so 
that  if  they  can  be  secured  the  best  results 
must  follow  in  teaching  any  subject.  In 
regard  to  spelling,  the  teacher  has  only  to 
secure  the  intensity,  except  in  the  case  of 
words  that  but  rarely  appear  in  print.      If 


82  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

the  necessary  interest  cannot  be*aroused 
in  reading  to  secure  a  sufficient  degree  of 
attention  to  the  words  as  they  are  read,  the 
teacher  must  have  recourse  to  other  meth- 
ods which  will  compel  the  required  at- 
tention. The  best  way  of  doing  is  to  make 
pupils  write  out  the  spelling  lessons.  It 
is  surprising  that  many  pupils  will  at  first 
make  mistakes  even  in  transcription.  As 
they  can  be  held  responsible  for  the  use  of 
their  eyes,  however,  they  will  soon  learn 
by  practice  to  see  accurately  and  copy 
correctly.  When  a  pupil  is  required  to 
write  several  times  a  word  which  he  has 
mis-spelled,  it  is  not  with  a  view  of  mak- 
ing him  think  how  the  word  is  spelled,  but 
to  help  him  to  see  the  letters  it  contains, 
and  how  they  are  arranged.  The  practice 
is  based  upon  the  sound  principle  that 
actual  doing  is  the  best  means  of  compel- 
ling attention  to  any  subject. 

4.  Drawing.  Drawings  are  executed 
with  the  hand,  the  hand  is  guided  by  the 
brain,  and  the  brain  receives  its  impres- 
sions about  the  lines  to  be  drawn  through 
the  senses.      This  is  an  explanation  of  the 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  83 

general  principle  laid  down  in  the  last 
paragraph,  that  doing  with  the  hand  com- 
pels attention.  If  the  sense  impressions 
are  inaccurate  the  hand  can  not  be  defi- 
nitely guided.  In  most  kinds  of  drawing- 
the  eye  is  the  medium  through  which  the 
mind  obtains  the  ideas  which  the  hand  is 
to  reproduce  on  paper.  The  eye  therefore 
has  two  functions  in  regard  to  this  subject  : 

1.  To  receive  exact  impressions  of  the 
copy  or  object  to  be  drawn. 

2.  To  inspect  the  drawing  as  it  is  beings 
executed  to  see  that  it  is  correctly  done. 

There  is  no  subject  on  the  school  pro- 
gramme which  compels  attention  on  the 
part  of  all  pupils  to  a  greater  extent  than 
Dictation  drawing.  The  terms  used  are  so 
definite  in  their  meaning  that  the  slightest 
misconception  of  the  teacher's  language, 
when  dictating  forms  and  their  combina- 
tions, will  show  itself  in  an  incorrect  pic- 
ture. Every  pupil  must  therefore  give 
close  attention  in  this  subject  or  his  negli- 
gence will  be  detected. 

5.  Writing.  The  remarks  made  about 
the  use  of  the  eye  in  drawing  from  copies 


-84  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

on  paper,  on  the  blackboard,  or  from  ob- 
jects, apply  also  to  writing,  if  it  is  properly 
taught  The  eye  should  carefully  analyze 
the  letter  to  be  written,  and  inspect  the 
written  letter  with  the  view  of  finding  out 
by  comparison  with  the  copy  what  its  de- 
fects are.  Unfortunately  too  many  teach- 
ers prevent  this  inspection  by  the  pupils 
by  pointing  out  the  errors  made,  instead 
of  merely  directing  attention  to  them,  so 
that  the  pupils  might  discover  their  nature 
for  themselves  and  thus  become  in  this,  as 
they  should  ultimately  become  in  all  sub- 
jects, independent  of  the  teacher. 

6.  Hints.  There  are  some  special  ex- 
ercises for  the  development  of  the  ability 
to  see  and  hear.  For  instance  a  picture 
may  be  shown  for  only  a  tew  seconds  to  a 
•class  and  then  each  pupil  allowed  to  de- 
scribe something  that  he  saw  in  it ;  or  var- 
ious noises  may  be  made  by  striking  differ- 
ent substances  and  otherwise,  in  the  hear- 
ing but  not  within  the  sight  of  the  pupils, 
that  they  may  form  opinions  as  to  the 
•causes  of  the  various  sounds  produced. 

Notes  on  a  musical   instrument  should 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  85 

be  sounded  at  random  until  each  pupil 
could  recognize  them  unerringly  as  they 
are  given.  Other  exercises  of  a  similar 
nature  will  suggest  themselves  to  teachers. 
They  may  take  the  form  of  games  to  re- 
lieve the  wearisomeness  or  the  monotony 
of  school  work. 


CHAPTER    IX. 


GENERAL    SUGGESTIONS. 

i  

1.  Get  the  sympathy  of  your  class. 

If  your  pupils  are  interested  in  you,  they 
can  be  more  easily  interested  by  you  in 
their  lessons.  The  love  of  approbation  is 
a  strong  motive,  if  the  teacher  is  liked  by 
the  pupils.  The  desire  to  please  a  kind 
teacher  will  lead  to  great  efforts  to  con- 
centrate the  attention  on  the  subject  he 
teaches.  Teachers  should  strive  to  be 
cheerful,  kind,  courteous,  polite,  and  dis- 
criminating in  all  their  intercourse  with 
their  pupils  in  and  out  of  school.  "Good 
mornings  "  are  easily  given,  but  not  easily 
forgotten. 

2.  Get  the  confidence  of  your  class. 

Let  them  see  not  merely  that  you  regard 
the  subjects  you  teach  as  of  great  import- 


RETAIN     ATTENTION.  87 

ance,  but  also  that  you  arouse  no  inquir-* 
ing  interest  whose  questions  you  cannot 
answer.  Be  prepared  with  your  work. 
Acknowledge  frankly  your  lack  of  infor- 
mation in  regard  to  any  question  which 
comes  up  unexpectedly  and  which  you 
have  not  before  considered.  If  you  do  so 
your  pupils  will  have  implicit  faith  in  you, 
when  you  assume  to  speak  definitely. 

3.  Be  magnetic.  It  is  not  enough  to  \/ 
merely  attract  a  pupil's  attention,  it  must 
be  held.  The  teacher's  manner  has  a  good 
deal  to  do  with  holding  the  attention  of 
his  class.  He  should  for  the  time  make  the 
pupils  forget  their  individual  personality 
and  become  one  in  aim  and  purpose  with 
himself.     How  can  this  be  done  ? 

1.  The  teacher  must  understand  his  sub- 
ject and  have  his  lesson  arranged  so  that 
he  is  not  conscious  of  mental  strain  in 
teaching  it. 

2.  He  must  believe  his  lesson  to  be  im- 
portant. 

3.  He  must  be  earnest  and  enthusiastic,      **" 
in   order  to  stir  up  a  corresponding  zeal 

on  the  part  of  his  pupils. 


58  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

4.  He  must  not  be  listless,  cold,  formal, 
or  mechanical  in  his  teaching. 

4.  Appeal  to  the  natural  instincts  of 
a  child.  The  following  should  be  used 
as  incentives  to  attention  : — 

1.  Curiosity.    The  desire  to  know,  the  in- 
quisitive faculty  that  worries  busy  mothers, 
and,  in  too  many  homes  and  schools,  dies 
from  a  lack  of  exercise  and  nourishment. 
J  2.  Love  of  activity.     Mental  activity  gives 

quite  as  much  delight  to  a  healthy  child 
as  physical  exercise.  Neither  affords 
pleasure,  if  it  degenerates  into  drudgery. 
There  are  few  boys  who  appreciate  very 
highly  the  privilege  of  digging  ditches 
day  after  day.  Mental  ditching  is  no  more 
attractive  to  them. 

3.  Sympathy.  This  leads  to  unity  of  pur- 
pose and  co-operation  between  teacher 
and  pupils.  They  should  get  out  of  their 
own  channels  of  thought  and  into  his,  for 
the  time  being.  It  is  clear  that  the  broad- 
er and  deeper  his  channel  is,  the  more 
easily  his  pupils  may  get  into  it,  and  the 
more  rapid  will  be  their  progress  in  it. 

4.  Love  of  praise.     If  the  pupil  has  the 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  89 

proper  amount  of  respect  for  his  teacher, 
he  will  be  very  desirous  of  earning  his  ap- 
probation Teachers  should  not  be  too 
sparing  in  their  commendation  of  earnest 
efforts.     Praise  for  honest  work. 

5.  Fear  of  offending.  The  pupil  who  loves 
his  teacher  will  endeavor  to  avoid  causing 
him  annoyance,  and  will  be  glad  to  learn 
his  lessons  or  give  attention,  if  he  can 
save  his  teacher  pain  by  doing  so. 

6.  Emulation.  While  too  great  a  rivalry 
is  likely  to  produce  evil  results  that  may 
outweigh  the  good  done,  it  is  well  to  use, 
as  a  motive  power,  as  much  of  the  spirit 
of  emulation  as  wili  awaken  increased 
interest,  and  arouse  to  energetic  work. 

7.  Appreciation  of  resulting  benefits.  As 
pupils  grow  older  they  should  be  led  to 
take  an  interest  in  study  for  its  ultimate 
aims,  developing  character  and  fitting  for 
usefulness  in  the  various  walks  of  life. 

5.  Think  out  each  lesson  for  your- 
self. Do  not  merely  memorize  lessons, 
or  depend  upon  those  prepared  by  others, 
however  good  they  may  be.  Let  the  les- 
ion become  your  own  by  a  careful  process 


90  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

of  thought,  let  this  process  be  repeated 
until  it  has  become  fixed,  and  your  person- 
al, magnetic  power  will  be  increased  very 
largely.  There  is  as  much  difference  in 
the  personal  influence  of  a  teacher  whose 
lesson  has  been  thought,  and  that  of  one 
whose  lesson  has  been  learned  by  rote,  as 
there  is  between  the  attractiveness  of  an 
orator  who  speaks  without  notes,  and  the 
man  who  reads  his  sermons  or  speeches. 

The  one  teacher  can  give  his  attention 
to  his  class,  and  the  other  must  attend  to 
his  lesson,  lest  he  may  forget  it. 

The  difference  in  the  effect  produced  by 
the  two  ways  of  teaching  is  much  greater 
with  children  than  with  adults. 

6.  Use  the  pupils' eyes.  If  the  interest 
is  beginning  to  flag,  show  the  pupils  some- 
thing. Illustrate  the  work  in  some  way, 
even  if  you  have  to  change  the  designed 
order  of  your  lesson  to  make  the  illustra- 
tion appropriate.  The  teacher  who  only 
talks  to  his  class  uses  only  half  of  his  teach- 
ing power,  and  employs  less  than  half  of 
the  receptive  power  of  the  pupils.  It  is 
often  a  good  way  to  begin  with  an  illuslra- 


RETAIN     ATTENTION.  91 

tion,  so  as  to  concentrate  the  attention  at 
once  upon  the  subject  in  hand,  and  drive 
out  the  thoughts  which  have  been  occupy- 
ing the  minds  of  the  scholars. 

7.  Give  occasional  rests.  Giving 
fixed  and  intense  attention  isx  an  exhaust- 
ive effort.  Rest  does  not  necessarily  mean 
cessation  from  effort.  Relief  may  be  giv- 
en to  one  faculty  by  the  exercise  of  another. 
Variety  is  in  many  cases  equivalent  to 
rest. 

8.  Do  not  distract  attention.    It  is 

wrong  to  stop  the  work  of  a  whole  class 
to  scold  one  pupil  for  inattention,  or  even 
to  notice  his  listlessness  in  such  a  way  as  to 
disconcert  others.  A  question  will  be 
sufficient  to  arrest  and  reprove  him. 
<l  Teachers  themselves  often  distract  the 
attention  ofchildren  by  the  injudicious  way 
in  which  they  handle  a  subject ;  by  import- 
ing into  their  lesson  irrelevant  matter;  by 
mixing  up  information  that  ought  to  be 
kept  distinct ;  by  a  see-saw  mode  of  pro- 
cedure; bv  exhibiting  pictures',  specimens, 
etc.,  before  they  are  required,  and  by  leav- 


92  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

ing  them  before  the  class  after  they  have 
served  their  purpose. 

9.  Do  not  be  discouraged  if  children 
at  first  have  difficulty  in  giving  fixed 
attention.  It  is  hard  work  to  give  contin- 
ued attention.  The  teacher  should  develop 
the  power  gradually  at  first.  Currie  ex- 
presses this  idea  well.  He  says,  u  The 
jDOwer  of  attention  is  the  result  of  habit. 
Time  must  therefore  be  allowed  for  its 
growth.  The  first  efforts  exacted  from  the 
child  should  be  gentle:  one  point  should 
be  presented  at  a  time,  that  he  may  not  be 
bewilded  by  multiplicity  ;  the  strain  on  his 
attention  should  not  be  long  continued ; 
he  should  be  relieved  before  he  is  compelled 
to  desist  from  fatigue;  one  success  will 
make  a  subsequent  one  easier  of  attain- 
ment; failure  will  make  the  next  attempt 
more  arduous. 

10.  Use  judgment    in    questioning. 

The  following  rules  concerning  question- 
ing have  special  reference  to  securing  at- 
tention : — 

l.  Do  not  ask  questions  in  rotation. 


RETAIN     ATTENTION.  93 

2.  Do  not/^zW  to  the  pupil  whom  you 
wish  to  answer  while  asking  a  question. 

3.  Do  not  even  look  fixedly  at  the  pupil 
whom  you  wish  to  answer,  while  giving 
the  question. 

4.  State  questions  to  the  class  as  a  whole  j 
ask  one  member  for  the  answer. 

5.  Do  not  wait  an  instant  for  the  answer 
when  reviewing  most  subjects. 

6.  Do  not  look  steadily  at  the  pupil  who 
is  answering. 

7.  Do   not    repeat  a   question    to    oblige^ 
those  who  were  inattentive. 

v^  8,  Be  sure  to  ask  questions  to  those  who 
are  in  the  slightest  degree  inattentive. 

11.  Bo  not  depend  too  much  on  sim- 
ultaneous answering.  If  you  do,  you 
cannot  be  sure  that  your  pupils  are  giving 
intelligent  attention.  They  may  join  me- 
chanically in  repeating  an  answer  without 
thinking.  Pupils  may  be  taught  to  speak 
out  by  simultaneous  answering,  and  time 
may  sometimes  be  saved  by  its  use.  Sim- 
ultaneous repetition  and  simultaneous 
answering  must  not  be  confounded.      The 


94  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

frequent  repetition  of  anything  to  be 
learned  by  rote  is  often  the  quickest  and 
surest  way  of  impressing  it  on  the  minds 
of  pupils.  All  the  members  of  a  class  if 
well  trained,  may  responsively  repeat  brief 
statements  made  by  the  teacher  while 
teaching.  They  may  even  answer  together 
when  being  reviewed,  if  the  teacher  wishes 
theanswerto  begivenin  aset  formofwords. 
Even  then  there  is  a  danger  that  the  indo- 
lent will  wait  for  the  keynotes  from  the 
leaders.  They  should  never  answer  to- 
gether while  being  taught,  unless  their 
answers  can  be  given  by  a  single  word. 
If  the  answer  to  a  question  requires  inde- 
pendent thought,  and  it  is  of  little  conse- 
quence unless  it  does  so,  it  should  not  be 
answered  simultaneously,  as  each  pupil 
may  have  a  different  answer.  If  the  answers 
are  certain  to  be  literally  the  same  they 
may  be  given  at  the  same  time.  Even  sim- 
ultaneous repetition  requires  great  care. 
The  teacher  must  speak  with  the  greatest 
possible  precision  and  distinctness,  and  he 
must  listen  with  the  utmost  care  to  the  re- 
sponces  made.  These  responses  should  be 
given  in  a  natural  tone  of  voice.       Classes 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  95 

that  are  allowed  to  repeat  together  are  lia- 
ble to  acquire  a  loud  drawling  manner  of 
speaking  that  is  very  disagreeable.  Every 
teacher  should  remember,  however,  that 
in  its  most  perfect  form  simultaneous  answer- 
ing is  the  most  mechanical  kind  of  teaching.  It 
is  word  grinding,  and  generally  the  words 
even  if  correctly  uttered  form  but  an  "un- 
meaning jargon  "  to  the  pupils. 

Many  very  ludicrous  examples  might  be 
given  to  show  that  children  do  not  even  get 
the  right  words  when  taught  to  repeat  in 
concert. 

A  girl  who  had  learned  in  this  way  to  re- 
peat Byron's  lines  on  the  Battle  of  Waterloo 
grew  to  be  a  woman  with  the  impression 
that  one  line  read  : 

Ah  Marm,  it  is,  it  is  the  cannons'  opening  roar. 

Sunday  schoolchildren  frequently  make 
dreadful  parodies  of  the  hymns  taught  to 
them. 

The  following  answers  were  given  by 
pupils  eleven  years  of  age  in  one  of  the 
schools  of  London,  England.  They  had 
been  accustomed  to  repeat  the  catechism 
half  an  hour  of  each  day  in  day  school  and 


•96  HOW    TO    SECURE    AND 

in  Sunday  school  for  four  or  five  years,  and 
this  is  what  they  wrote  : 

"  My  duty  toads  God  is  to  bleed  in  him 
to  fering  and  to  loaf  withold  your  arts 
withold  my  mine  withold  my  sold  and  with 
my  sernth  to  whirchp  and  to  give  thanks 
to  put  my  old  trast  in  him  to  call  upon 
him  to  onner  his  old  name  and  his  world 
and  to  save  him  truly  all  the  days  of  my 
life's  end. 

My  dooty  tords  by  nabers  to  love  him 
as  thyself  and  to  do  to  all  men  as  I  wed 
thou  shall  do  and  to  me  to  love  onner  and 
suke  my  father  and  mother  and  bey  the 
queen  and  all  that  are  pet  in  a  forty  under 
her  to  smit  myself  to  all  my  goones  teach- 
ers spartial  pastures  and  masters  who 
oughten  myself  lordly  and  every  to  all  my 
betters  to  hut  nobody  by  would  nor  deed 
to  be  trew  and  jest  in  all  deelins  to  beer 
nomalisnoratedinyourartsto  kep  myands 
from  pecking  and  steel  my  turn  from  evil 
speak  and  la  wing  and  slanders  not  to  civit  or 
desar  othermans  good  but  to  lern  labour 
trewly  to  get  my  own  leaving  and  to  do 
my  dooty  in  that  state  if  life  and  to  each 
it  hes  please  God  to  call  man." 


RETAIN    ATTENTION.  gj 

Another  gave  the  following  answer  to 
the  question  "  Who  was  Moses  ? " 

"  He  was  an  Egypshin.  He  lived  in  a 
bark  made  of  bull  rushers  and  he  kep  a 
golden  calf  and  worship  braizen  snakes 
and  he  het  nuthin  but  kwales  and  manner 
for  forty  year.  He  was  kort  by  the  air  of 
his  ed  while  riding  under  the  bow  of  a 
tree  and  he  was  killed  by  his  Abslon  as  he 
was  a  hanging  from  the  bow,  His  end 
was  pease." 

Do  not  be  deceived.  Simultaneous 
answering  is  not  a  developing  exercise. 
The  very  pupils  who  should  attend  most 
carefully,  often  do  not  attend  at  all,  when 
this  method  is  adopted. 

<V      OF  THB^^ 

UWIYERSITr; 


TO  PKINCIPALS  OF  ACADEMIES  AND 
UNION  SCHOOLS. 


For  the  Regents'  examinations  we  now  prepare  five 
forms  of  Examination-paper,  all  printed  from  new  plates, 
and  with  some  changes  suggested  by  the  board  of  Regents. 

PRICES  PER  REAM. 

Note.— All  the  paper  weighs  fourteen  pounds  per  ream  of  480  full 
sheets,  but  is  put  up  in  reams  of  480  half  sheets,  weighing 
seven  pounds.  Please  specify  the  letter,  in  ordering.  NO 
ORDEKS  FILLED  EXCEPT  FOR  EVEN  REAMS.  Even 
schools  which  have  but  two  or  three  scholars  to  try  will  find 
it  profitable  to  keep  a  ream  on  hand.  So  much  less  attention 
as  to  the  form  of  the  paper  is  required  of  the  scholar  th*ft  he 
can  give  his  undivided  attention  to  answering  the  questions. 
It  is  now  the  practice  of  many  of  the  best  schools  to  put  the 
scholars  intending  to  try,  through  one  complete  examination 
with  questions  given  at  a  previous  time,  using  this  paper,  and 
having  all  the  formalities  complied  with.  This  gives  the 
scholars  confidence,  and  precludes  the  nervousness  which  is 
often  fatal  to  success. 

jB.    All  printed,  for  Arithmetic,  Geography, 

or  Grammar $2.25 

C.  All  printed  and  numbered  for  Spelling, 

as  per  sample 2.50 

D.  37  sheets  Spelling  printed  and  num- 

bered, 
185    sheets    Arithmetic,    Geography, 

Grammar,  printed, 
258    sheets    Arithmetic,    Geography, 

Grammar,  not  printed, 
480  sheets  complete  for  37  pupils 

The  last  form  is  preferred  by  nine-tenths  of  the  schools  purchasing, 
and  we  recommend  it  as  the  cheapest  an<l  most  satisfactory.  The 
sheets  printed  on  the  back  me  used  only  for  the  last  sheet  in  each  ex- 
ercise, usually  the  second  in  Arithmetic  and  Gfoegraphy  and  the  third 

in  (iranimar." 

E.  The  same  as  D.  except  lh.it  all  the 
sheets  in  Arithmetic,  Grammar,  and 
Geography  are  printed  upon  the  hack..  2.40 

F.  All  printed,  for  the  Advanced  Examina- 
tions only 2.25 

C.  W.  BAKDEKN,  Pub.,  Syracuse,  N,  Y. 


2.00 


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Ripley,  teacher  of  Grammar  in  the  Central  High  School,  Buffalo. 
16mo,  boards,  pp.  103.    40  cts. 

The  value  of  such  a  work  depends  entirely  upon  the  character 
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3.  The  Regents'  Questions  in  Grammar,  from  the  begin- 
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This  unequalled  series  of  questions  is  recognized  throiviout 
the  the  country  as  the  best  drill-book  ever  made,  and  the  only 
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An  edition  of  these  Questions,  with  complete  answers,  and 
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4.  Dime  Question  Book  No.  14,  Grammar.  By  Albert 
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good,  it  is  happy  and  nourishing.  I  hope  you  may  6ell  a  million 
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